Wheezing, traffic fumes and indoor air
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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Three-year-olds who've been wheezing for two years straight have a higher risk of asthma. So researchers want to know what might set off the wheezing.
At the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Patrick Ryan has found two indications. They're exposure to traffic fumes, and exposure to things in the home, such as possibly dog dander, that also could set off immune reactions. Ryan's study of 3-year-olds found that, when traffic fumes and indoor allergens combine, the effect is even worse:
[Patrick Ryan speaks] ``The prevalence of wheezing increased to more than a third - 36 percent of those children.''
The study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.