 |
||||
A Little Bit Country ... For kids with asthma, greener pastures could diminish symptoms, attacks 
For children suffering from asthma, a little country air may be just what they need to breath easy. According to a new study at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, children with asthma have an easier time breathing if they spend just a few days away from the pollutants of urban air. The study, led by Giovanni Piedimonte, M.D., professor and chairman of the department of pediatrics at the WVU School of Medicine, is the first to show that limiting a child's exposure to outdoor air pollutants can improve lung function and reduce inflammation of the airways. "This finding is significant because inflammation creates health risks for children with chronic respiratory problems," Dr. Piedimonte says. "Now we know that simply providing a cleaner environment in terms of air quality helps provide relief fairly rapidly for children with asthma." Researchers from the U.S. and Italy studied 37 Italian children ages seven to 14 with allergies and mild but persistent asthma. The children were transported to a rural setting for a week, where air pollutants, pollen counts and meteorological conditions were monitored. Participants remained treatment-free for the duration of the study. "A whole host of pollutants in the air of cities in economically developed countries has contributed to a worldwide rise in asthma rates among children," Dr. Piedimonte says. "Even knowing that, I was surprised to see how much better the children's lung functions were after just a few days of cleaner air." In addition, researchers found new data suggesting that ultrafine particles may be especially toxic to the airways of children with asthma, he says. "This study suggests that possibly we could manage asthmatic children with much less medication if the air they breathed was cleaner," Dr. Piedimonte concludes. |
||||
|
||||
