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full screen A girl inhales asthma medicine. Archive image. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
Better air means fewer children with asthma and less trouble for the children who have asthma. This appears in a new study that will be published in the journal Annals of the American thoracic society.
– If we can reduce exposure and air pollution, then we will also see very positive effects for our children’s health and we must take that into account and work with it, says Erik Melén who is a professor and pediatric allergist at Södersjukhuset in Stockholm and co-author of the study to Sveriges Radio.
The study, which followed almost 2,400 children in Stockholm until they turned 24, shows that fewer children got asthma and that those who got it had milder symptoms.
To carry out the study, levels of air pollution between birth and 8 years of age have been mapped and the risk of developing asthma between 8 and 24 years of age. The result shows that there is a connection between reduced levels of air pollution and a lower risk of getting asthma.
The fact that the air in Stockholm has improved is due, among other things, to the use of cleaner fuels and the introduction of environmental zones.