Air pollution 'can affect babies for years after'

It is common knowledge that exposure to air pollution can be very harmful to people of all ages, with consequential problems ranging from asthma to heart and lung disease.

New research has now revealed that babies who experience air pollution from traffic are likely to be affected by the contamination until they are about eight years old.

"In our prospective birth cohort study in a large population of Swedish children, exposure to traffic-related air pollution during infancy was associated with decreases in lung function at age eight," said researcher Göran Pershagen, MD, PhD, professor at the Karolinska Institutet Institute of Environmental Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden.

Across the board children were affected, but some were more damaged than others, "with stronger effects indicated in boys, children with asthma and particularly in children sensitized to allergens".

Nearly 2,000 children were assessed through a series of questionnaires and tests that began at birth and continued until their eighth birthday.

This new research serves as a warning to governments across the world.

Pollution is most prominent in cities, so babies in urban areas could be more heavily affected than those living in the countryside.

Air pollution is thought to become one of the biggest killers in the next 40 years, and this is just another factor that adds to the necessity of change.

"Our study shows that early exposure to traffic-related air pollution has long-term adverse effects on respiratory health in children, particularly among atopic children,” concluded Dr. Pershagen.

"These results add to a large body of evidence demonstrating the detrimental effects of air pollution on human health."

The country has a long way to go before we are rid of these harmful emissions, but there are a lot of new schemes happening that attempt to cut down the amount of damage.