Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health
A scientific study by a team of French scientists, reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, part of the British Medical Journal group of scientific journals, has looked at the effect of air pollution (measured as ozone (O3), nitrous oxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10) on the ability to manage asthma.
The researchers took the levels of pollution for the residential addresses of 481 participants in the study, as measured by the French Institute of Environment in a 2004 report and cross-referenced the data against three measurements of asthma severity… symptoms, exacerbations and lung function. They found that, of the people studied, 44% had “controlled” asthma, 29% had “partly controlled” asthma and 27% had “uncontrolled asthma” and there was a correlation between the levels of ozone and particulate matter and the ability to control asthma.
While this information does not show that air pollution causes asthma, it is evidence that pollution makes asthma harder to manage, which will mean more use of inhalers and steroid treatments, more visits to hospital and a lower quality of life for the asthmatic.
It would be interesting to know if devices such as the WS907 Air Sanitiser would significantly help asthma sufferers in areas with air pollution manage their condition.