Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to develop respiratory illnesses, as are children of either sex who live in houses with indoor pollution caused by pets, pests, mildew and water damage or cigarette smoke. Why boys would be more prone to such diseases is unclear, said the researchers, who published their preliminary data today in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Of unprecedented scope, it involves more than 3,600 children in the fourth, seventh and 10th grades in 12 communities in the southern half of the state. A wide mix of communities was selected, from those with relatively clean air, such as Santa Maria and Atascadero, to more smoggy cities like Upland and San Dimas. The initial findings are based on questionnaires and lung function tests.
Researchers plan in the future to also include school absences.
Unpublished results from later years in the study, which researchers reported to the Air Resources Board in January, suggest that the link between high levels of pollution and chronic respiratory problems holds steady over a period of several years. It is the promise of finding such long-term patterns that most intrigues pollution experts. Everyone will be interested in that. The fine particles and acid and nitrogen dioxide seemed to be playing a bigger role. Most remarkable in the first year's findings were consistent, but as yet unexplained, gender differences.