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Assessment of intra-urban variability in indoor air quality and its impact on children’s health

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Abstract

The results from a number of studies suggest that children living close to busy roads may have impaired respiratory health. The study reported here was designed specifically to test the hypothesis that exhaust from traffic has an impact on indoor air quality and children’s respiratory health. Children living at three different locations in a suburban area in India were enrolled in the study, and the concentrations of indoor air quality parameters were measured at selected households during the period March 2006–February 2007 using portable air quality monitors. Respiratory symptoms were identified by means of a questionnaire completed by parents and from the results of a pulmonary function test (PFT) carried out using an electronic Spiro Meter. The logistic regression model revealed associations between respiratory symptoms and traffic-related indoor air pollutants among our study population. The prevalence of respiratory disorders was greater among children living in close proximity to traffic sources than among those living more distant from these sources, even after the adjustment of confounding factors. We also found intra-urban variability of indoor air quality and associated differences in respiratory symptoms. Our findings support the hypothesis that traffic has an impact on indoor air quality and that it is associated with children’s health. The findings from this study have important policy and program implications, including the need for public information campaigns designed to inform people about the risks of exposure to traffic exhausts.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the cooperation of the households and the local communities of the Bolpur-Santiniketan area during the study. The financial support provided by the UGC, India to one of the authors (B. K. Padhi) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions which helped in improvement of the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    B. K. Padhi & V. K. Jain

  2. Centre for Environmental Studies, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India

    Pratap Kumar Padhy & Lokanath Sahu

  3. Suri Sadar Hospital, West Bengal, India

    Rupak Ghosh

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  1. B. K. Padhi
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  2. Pratap Kumar Padhy
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  3. Lokanath Sahu
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  4. V. K. Jain
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  5. Rupak Ghosh
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Correspondence to Pratap Kumar Padhy.

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Padhi, B.K., Padhy, P.K., Sahu, L. et al. Assessment of intra-urban variability in indoor air quality and its impact on children’s health. Air Qual Atmos Health 3, 149–158 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-010-0063-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-010-0063-x

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