At AirPop one of our core beliefs is that everyone has the right to clean air. However, above all, we believe it’s important to protect the lungs of our younger family members. While much research into air pollution is still missing, we know it’s harmful and will likely only be found more harmful in the future.
A recent study has highlighted how air pollution can impact children by finding links between air pollution and lung function growth in children. This long-term study started by measuring the lung function of children at birth back in 1994-1996. Lung function was then tested at ages eight, 16 and 24.
The study was conducted in Stockholm and didn’t focus on particular populations. Furthermore, the type of pollution was not separated, and the study instead focused on pollution as a whole (including PM2.5, PM10 and nitrogen oxides).
While the impacts of air pollution on lung growth weren’t large and equated to only a couple percent more lung function over 10 years, the impacts on a larger scale could be significantly larger, making the study findings important to act on.
Perhaps the most important finding is that a 2.19 μg/m3 decrease in PM2.5 exposure in children leads to a 20% lower risk of having clinically-impaired lung function.