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Air pollution may be driving factor for asthma in children
Asthma is the most common chronic illness in children. An Atlanta mom is anxious to see if her son will grow out of his asthma, since he's interested in playing sports.
ATLANTA - When Nellie Anderson's 7-year-old son Brandon started wheezing when he was 2 or 3, she recognized the warning signs of asthma, and quickly got him in to see his pediatrician Dr. Nicola Chin at Morehouse Healthcare in Atlanta.
"I myself suffer from childhood asthma, I still have it to this day," Anderson says. "It's not as bad as childhood. Childhood was extremely bad."
Brandon Anderson is doing well, and has had no recent flareups.
Still, his mother says, they keep a rescue inhaler on hand, just in case.
"Now I'm just trying to wait and see if he will grow out of it, if he will be okay with sports," she says. "Because now he's into sports, and we'll see how that's going to go. But, so far, so good.""
The spring pollen surges, Dr. Chin says, can be hard on kids with asthma, because pollen can get into the upper airways and trigger breathing problems and inflammation in the lungs.
But, it's not just the pollen.
In a recent study, published January 5, 2022, in The Lancet Planetary Health, researchers found 2 million cases of childhood asthma around the world may be triggered by nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant emitted by motor vehicles, power plants and industrial sites.
About two-thirds of those cases, they say, are in urban areas, with high traffic.
Dr. Chin says asthma control is key.
Chin says Morehouse School of Medicine works with schools to make sure students from kindergarten to 12th grade have an asthma action plan to manage their symptoms.
So, having those rescue inhalers available, paying attention to the count, great communication with the schools, in case it's a higher pollen count that is in the red zone, then definitely making accommodations for their child," Chin says.
The CDC says other environmental triggers, such mold or dampness, dust mites or cockroach allergens and secondhand tobacco smoke have also been linked asthma in children.
Viral lung infections may also trigger asthma.
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