More than 50% city kids hit by asthma: study

More than 50% city kids hit by asthma: study
Pooja Virendra Kumar | TNN

Bangalore: Bangalore has around 26 lakh children and more than half of them suffer from asthma. One reason: fast changing demography.
This is the finding of a 25-year-long study on 27,000 children below 18 years. The study was conducted by Dr H Parmesh, a panelist, adviser and facilitator in WHO, UNICEF, World Bank and Government of India. The study started in 1979, was updated every five years till 2004.
Industrial growth, increasing population and vehicular pollution are the main factors responsible for the trend. Around 1,500 vehicles are registered here daily.
“While in 1979 only 9% of the children had asthma, with genetic reasons accounting for a chunk of it, by 2004 the number had rose to 26.70%, wherein environmental changes are the prime reasons,’’ said Dr Parmesh.
Asthma is a chronic illness of the respiratory system caused by allergens present in the environment. These allergens cause sneezing, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness.
Dust mites in the humid atmosphere of Bangalore trigger around 60% of asthma, while vehicular emissions like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, benzene, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, aldehydes, sulphur dioxide also act as trigger agents.
That explains why more children coming from schools situated in high-traffic zones have asthma than those coming from low-traffic areas. There are 3,722 schools in the city situated amidst heavy traffic and 2,565 of them in low-traffic region. While 19.34% children from heavy traffic schools suffer from asthma, the percentage for low traffic schools is 11.15%.
Chronic asthma in children has gone up from 20% in 1994 to 25.50% in 1999 and 36.60% by 2004, explained Dr Parmesh.
What initiatives do the schools take? Baldwin Boys High School, Hosur Road: “Asthma is the most common reason for students’ absence from our school,’’ said Dinakar Wilson, principal of the school
While annual health check-up camps are organised, students are encouraged to practise car pooling as out of the 2,900 students in the school, only 600 use school buses, while the rest come by private vehicles.
Bishop Cotton Girls School, St Mark’s Road: “We have lots of trees planted within our campus which help to keep the air clean,’’ said Princess Franklyn, the principal of the school. Besides, annual health checkup camps are held as well. OUT OF BREATH
Pollution and asthma
Carbon monoxide comprising 50% of all air pollutants has hypoxic effect
Sulphur dioxide comprising 75% from fossil fuel power plant increases airway inflammation & sensitivity towards asthma 10 fold
Nitrogen oxides comprising 60 % of motor vehicle emission, increases asthma by 60%
Ozone, major component of smog formed by nitrogen oxides, oxygen in sunlight and heat, increases respiratory track irritation and infection CHILDREN AND ASTHMA
Around 75% of asthma occurs in children below eight years and reasons are:
Their lungs have highest surface area Breathe more air relative to their body weight (32 times per min) Engage in more physical activity — 124 min/day — compared with adults who spend only 21 min/day More physical activity causes five times more deposition of particles in the airways