THE MORE POLLUTION, THE MORE HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS OF CHILDREN FOR RESPIRATORY DISEASES

We know that pollution negatively affects our health and that children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to its effects.

Now, a new Spanish study, published in the Journal of Primary Care Pediatrics, has confirmed with data collected for six years, that The highest number of hospital admissions for children due to respiratory diseases coincide with the highest pollution peaks in the city.

This means that we must take care of the environment to also protect the health of our children.

The object of study

The work "Impact of environmental pollution on pediatric hospital admissions", collects general pediatric admissions and those for respiratory pathology (pneumonia, asthmatic crisis and bronchiolitis), at the Niño Jesús Children's Hospital in Madrid for six years (2012-2017), which were compared with the pollution values of the Spanish capital.

In total, 10,512 admissions (more than half of them due to respiratory processes) were studied, when the measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) by the Madrid City Council were higher and lower than 40 micrograms per cubic meter of air (40 µg / m3) .

The average age of the children was less than three years old

Young children, the most vulnerable

'Don't pollute my future!' and 'Inheriting a sustainable world: atlas on child health and the environment' are two of the latest reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) on environmental risks that affect children. They emphasize the vulnerability of children, marked by the immaturity of their organs and immune systems, but also in those behaviors that are typical of their age:

"Younger children crawl, put their hands and varied objects in their mouths and spend a lot of time outdoors. For these reasons they are less able than adults to neutralize and eliminate external contaminants from their bodies."

We have previously echoed other studies that confirmed the relationship between children's health and environmental conditions and we have talked about the increase in childhood allergies due to increased contamination and even how it affects their cognitive development.

In Babies and more Babies are very vulnerable to contamination, and even more so if they go by car seat

And this study shows again that something has to change.

Solution: reduce pollution

The investigation of the Madrid hospital center found a correlation between the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), CO, benzene and the total and respiratory hospital admissions. That is, the number of income from respiratory conditions increases when the levels of NO2 and benzene increase and decrease with temperature.

It was calculated that if the NO2 levels had not exceeded 40 µg / m3 (the maximum recommended NO2 contamination level), 8.37% of revenue could have been avoided total and 6.73% of the respiratory or, what is the same, 789 children would not have been hospitalized.

Conclusion. As explained by pediatrician Marciano Sánchez Baile, first signatory of the work:

"The improvement of air quality could avoid a significant percentage of pediatric income and encourage it should be a priority task for pediatricians."