| There is an increasing prevalence of children’s asthma and sick building syndrome caused by air pollution in recent years.In order to study the air pollution status in Taiyuan city and the prevalence of children’s asthma,other respiratory diseases and sick building syndrome,and to investigate the association between air pollution and children’s health.Here,we performed a two-year prospective study and investigated associations between environmental parameters such as particulate matter(PM10),sulfur dioxide（SO2）,nitrogen dioxide（NO2）,ozone（O3）,and health outcomes including prevalence and incidence of asthma,other respiratory diseases and sick building syndrome in junior high schools in Taiyuan,China.Ten junior high schools were randomly selected in different district of Taiyuan city,and the students of first-year classes were contacted and all agreed to participate.Data on asthma,other respiratory diseases and sick building syndrome were collected by individual respiratory health questionnaires in randomly selected classes at baseline（March 2010）and at follow-up（March 2012）.Air pollutants(including PM10,SO2,NO2,O3)and climatic factors（including temperature,relative humidity and CO2）were measured indoors and outdoors in classrooms and schools at baseline.The correlation between indoor and outdoor PM10,SO2,NO2,O3 and students’ asthma,other respiratory diseases and sick building syndrome were statistical analyzed by multivariate logistic regression.The results were as follows:（1）The average concentration of indoor PM10,SO2,NO2 and O3 in 10 schools were 129.0μg/m3、68.0μg/m3、43.2μg/m3 and 8.6μg/m3,respectively.The outdoor PM10,O3 and SO2 was 1-1.5 times,1-1.5 times and 2-3 times to indoor PM10,O3 and SO2,respectively,and the concentration of NO2 was almost same outdoor and indoor.（2）The prevalence of respiratory infections,allergic rhinitis,daytime attacks of breathlessness,dry cough at night,wheeze,wheeze/breathlessness/chest tightness at night was 32.5%、27.9%、16.8%、9.5%、4.3%and 2.9%respectively,at baseline（2010）,and increased during follow-up（P<0.001）.At baseline,outdoor PM10 were positively associated with the prevalence of dry cough at night.Indoor O3 were positively associated with the prevalence of allergic rhinitis.At follow-up,both indoor and outdoor PM10 was positively associated with new onset of dry cough at night and outdoor PM10 was positively associated with new onset of allergic rhinitis.Outdoor SO2 was positively associated with new onset of dry cough at night.Outdoor NO2 was positively associated with new onset of dry cough and wheeze/breathlessness/chest tightness at night.Indoor O3 were positively associated with new onset of wheeze.Outdoor O3 were positively associated with new onset of respiratory infections last 3 months.（3）The prevalence of students’ sick building syndrome was relatively high at baseline and increased during the two-year follow-up.We found associations between indoor and outdoor air pollution in the schools and different types of SBS symptoms.Higher concentrations of PM10,SO2,NO2,O3 were positively associated with higher prevalence and higher incidence of SBS.In the cross-sectional analysis,both indoor and outdoor SO2 were positively associated with symptoms improved when away from school.Indoor SO2 were negatively associated with the prevalence of any skin symptoms.Indoor O3 were positively associated with the prevalence of any skin symptoms.In the longitudinal analysis,outdoor SO2 were positively associated with new onset of any skin symptoms.Indoor and outdoor PM10 and outdoor NO2 were positively associated with new onset of any skin,mucosal and general symptoms.Outdoor PM10 were positively associated with symptoms improved when away from school.In conclusion,the air pollution in winter time of Taiyuan city was still serious and cause problems to student’s health.Therefore,this study provides a theoretical basis to protect the children’s health and improve school environment and building construction in coal-burning pollution areas. |
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