BACKGROUND: To confirm or refute the hypothesis that the morbidity of children (since birth to age 5) born and living in the heavily polluted (PM10, benzo[a]pyrene) eastern part of Ostrava, Czech Republic, was higher than the morbidity of children living in other parts of the city. METHODS: Ten pediatricians in 5 districts of Ostrava abstracted the medical records of 1878 children born in 2001-2004 to list all illnesses of each child in ICD-10 codes. The children were divided into four groups according to their residence at birth and thereafter. Most of the children in the eastern area were living in the city district Radvanice and Bartovice. RESULTS: We report on the incidence of acute illnesses in 1535 children of Czech ethnicity in the first 5 years of life. The most frequent acute illnesses (over 45% of all diagnoses) were upper respiratory infections (URI: J00-J02, J06). In the first year of life, the incidence of URI in 183 children in the eastern area - 372 illnesses/100 children/year - was more than twice as high as in the other 3 areas with a total number of 1352 children. From birth to the age of 5 years, the incidences of pneumonia, tonsillitis, viral infections (ICD-10 code B34) and intestinal infectious diseases were also several times higher in children living in the eastern part of Ostrava. The lowest morbidity was found in children living in the less polluted western part of the city. CONCLUSIONS: The children born and living in the eastern part of the city of Ostrava had from birth through 5 years significantly higher incidence rates of acute illnesses than children in other parts of Ostrava. They also had a higher prevalence of wheezing, atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis.

Institute of Experimental Medicine AS CR Prague Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Sram RJ, Dostal M, Libalova H, Rossner PJ, Rossnerova A, Svecova V, Topinka J, Bartonova A. The European Hot Spot of B[a]P and PM2.5 Exposure -The Ostrava Region, Czech Republic: Health Research Results. ISRN Public Health; 2013. doi:10.1155/2013/416701.

Svecova V, Topinka J, Solansky I, Rossner P Jr, Sram RJ. Personal exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Czech Republic. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2013;23:350–355. doi: 10.1038/jes.2012.110. PubMed DOI

Cenia Czech Environmental Information Agency. State of the Environment in Different Regions of the Czech Republic in 2009. CENIA: in Czech; 2011.

Cernikovsky L. Air pollution by suspended particles PM10 and PM2.5 in the city of Ostrava 2006-2011(in Czech) Ochrana ovzdusi. 2012;6:13–18.

Keder J. Recognition of sources possibly polluting a particular locality using a backward trajectory method (in Czech) Ochrana ovzdusi. 2012;6:24–26.

Williams RJ, Wats RR, Hartlage TA, Phillips L, Lewtas J, Dobias L, Havrankova J, Volf J, Kellogg RB, Willis RD, Novak J. Ostrava human exposure and biomarker study. United States Environmental Protection Agency; EPA/600/R-97/069. http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/30003JYQ.TXT?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1995+Thru+1999&File=D%3a%5cZYFILES%5cINDEX+DATA%5c95THRU99%5cTXT%5c00000009%5c30003JYQ. TXT&User=anonymous&Password=anonymous&Display=hpfrw&MaximumPages=5&Query=fname%3d%2230003JYQ.TXT%22.

Dostal M, Topinka J, Sram RJ. Comparison of the health of Roma and non-Roma children living in the district of Teplice. Int J Public Health. 2010;55:435–441. doi: 10.1007/s00038-010-0133-8. PubMed DOI

Dostal M, Prucha M, Rychlikova E, Pastorkova A, Sram RJ. Morbidity of children in the districts of Teplice and Prachatice: A longitudinal ecologic study (in Czech) Ochrana ovzdusi. 2012;5:11–19.

Sram RJ, Binkova B, Dostal M, Merkerova-Dostalova M, Libalova H, Milcova A, Rossner PJ, Rossnerova A, Schmuczerova J, Svecova V, Topinka J, Votavova H. Health impact of air pollution to children. Int J Hyg Environ Health; 2013. doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2012.12.001. PubMed

Macintyre EA, Karr CJ, Koehoorn M, Demers P, Tamburic L, Lencar C, Brauer M. Otitis media incidence and risk factors in a population-based birth cohort. Paediatr Child Health. 2010;15:437–42. PubMed PMC

Heinrich J, Raghuyamshi VS. Air pollution and otitis media: a review of evidence from epidemiologic studies. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2004;4:302–309. doi: 10.1007/s11882-004-0075-4. PubMed DOI

Dostal M, Pastorkova A, Lochmanova A, Sram RJ. Incidence of otitis media in children living in heavy polluted environment (in Czech) Ochrana ovzdusi. 2012;5:20–24.

WHO. REVIHAAP Project, WHO Regional Office for Europe. 2013. http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/environment-and-health/air-quality/publications/2013/review-of-evidence-on-health-aspects-of-air-pollution-revihaapinterim-report. PubMed

Miller RL, Garfinkel R, Horton M, Camann D, Perera FP, Whyatt RM, Kinney PL. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, environmental tobacco smoke, and respiratory symptoms in an inner-city birth cohort. Chest. 2004;126:1071–1078. doi: 10.1378/chest.126.4.1071. PubMed DOI PMC

Jedrychowski W, Galas A, Pac A, Flak E, Camman D, Rauh V, Perera F. Prenatal ambient air exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the occurrence of respiratory symptoms over the first year of life. Eur J Epidemiol. 2005;20:775–782. doi: 10.1007/s10654-005-1048-1. PubMed DOI

Dejmek J, Selevan SG, Benes I, Solansky I, Sram RJ. Fetal growth and maternal exposure to particulate matter during pregnancy. Environ Health Perspect. 1999;107:475–480. doi: 10.1289/ehp.99107475. PubMed DOI PMC

Choi H, Wang L, Lin X, Spengler JD, Perera FP. Fetal window of vulnerability to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on proportional intrauterine growth restriction. PLoS One. 2012. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035464. PubMed PMC

Pastorkova A, Dostal M, Sram RJ. Project Airgen: Children’s health in Ostrava – congenital malformations (in Czech) Ochrana ovzdusi. 2011;5–6:17–22.

Perera F, Tang D, Whyatt R, Lederman SA, Jedrychowski W. DNA damage from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons measured by benzo[a]pyrene-DNA adducts in mothers and newborns from Northern Manhattan, the World Trade Center Area, Poland, and China. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005;14:709–714. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-04-0457. PubMed DOI

Topinka J, Binkova B, Mrackova G, Stavkova Z, Peterka M, Benes I, Dejmek J, Lenicek J, Pilcik T, Sram RJ. Influence of GSTM1 and NAT2 genotypes on placental DNA adducts in an environmentally exposed population. Environ Mol Mutagen. 1997;30:184–195. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2280(1997)30:2<184::AID-EM11>3.0.CO;2-9. PubMed DOI

Herr CE, Dostal M, Ghosh R, Ashwood P, Lipsett M, Pinkerton KE, Sram R, Hertz-Picciotto I. Air pollution exposure during critical time periods in gestation and alterations in cord blood lymphocyte distribution: a cohort of livebirths. Environ Health. 2010. doi:10.1186/1476-069X-9-46. PubMed PMC

Herr CE, Ghosh R, Dostal M, Skokanova V, Ashwood P, Lipsett M, Joad JP, Pinkerton KE, Yap PS, Frost JD, Sram R, Hertz-Picciotto I. Exposure to air pollution in critical prenatal time windows and IgE levels in newborns. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2011;22:75–84. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-3038.2010.01074.x. PubMed DOI

McCallister MM, Maguire M, Ramesh A, Aimin Q, Liu S, Khoshbouei H, Aschner M, Ebner FF, Hood DB. Prenatal exposure to benzo(a)pyrene impairs later-life cortical neuronal function. Neurotoxicology. 2008;29:846–854. doi: 10.1016/j.neuro.2008.07.008. PubMed DOI PMC

Perera FP, Li Z, Whyatt R, Hoepner L, Wang S, Camann D, Rauh S. Prenatal airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure and child IQ at age 5 years. Pediatrics. 2009. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-3506. PubMed PMC

Sheng L, Ding X, Ferguson M, McCallister M, Rhoades R, Maquire M, Ramesh A, Aschner M, Campbell D, Levitt P, Hood DB. Prenatal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure leads to behavioral deficits and downregulation of receptor tyrosine kinase MET. Toxicol Sci. 2010;118:625–634. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfq304. PubMed DOI PMC

Perera FP, Wang S, Vishnevetsky J, Zhang B, Cole KJ, Tang D, Rauh V, Phillips DH. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-aromatic DNA adducts in cord blood and behavior scores in New York city children. Environ Health Perspect. 2011;119:1176–1181. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1002705. PubMed DOI PMC

Perera F, Tang WY, Herbstman J, Tang D, Levin L, Miller R, Ho SM. Relation of DNA methylation of 5’-CpG island of ACSL3 to transplacental exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and childhood asthma. PLoS One. 2009. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004488. PubMed PMC

Rossnerova A, Spatova M, Pastorkova A, Tabashidze N, Veleminsky MJ, Balascak I, Solansky I, Sram RJ. Micronuclei levels in mothers and their newborns from regions with different types of air pollution. Mutat Res. 2011;715:72–78. doi: 10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2011.07.011. PubMed DOI

Castro-Rodriguez JA, Holberg CJ, Wright AL, Martinez FD. A clinical index to define risk of asthma in young children with recurrent wheezing. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000;162:1403–1406. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.162.4.9912111. PubMed DOI

Gern EJ. The urban environment and childhood asthma study. J Allergy Clin Immuno. 2010;125:545–549. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2010.01.037. PubMed DOI PMC

Ho SM. Environmental epigenetics of asthma: an update. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010;126:453–465. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2010.07.030. PubMed DOI PMC

Kabesch M, Michel S, Tost J. Epigenetic mechanisms and the relationship to childhood asthma. Eur Respir J. 2010;36:950–961. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00019310. PubMed DOI

Rosa MJ, Jung KH, Perzanowski MS, Kelvin EA, Darling KW, Camann DE, Chillrud SN, Whyatt RM, Kinney PL, Perera FP, Miller RL. Prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, environmental tobacco smoke and asthma. Respir Med. 2011;105:869–876. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2010.11.022. PubMed DOI PMC

Czech Institute of Hydrometeorology. 09/17/2011. http://portal.chmi.cz/files/portal/docs/uoco/isko/tab_roc/2009_enh/cze/index_cz.html.

Tandon PS, Zhou C, Sallis JF, Cain KL, Frank LD, Saelens BE. Home environment relationships with childrens’ physical activity, sedentary time, and screen time by socioeconomic status. Int j BehavvNutr Phys Act; 2012. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-9-88. PubMed PMC

LeBlanc AG, Spence JC, Carson V, Connor Gorber S, Dillman C, Janssen I, Kho ME, Stearns JA, Timmons BW, Tremblay MS. Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (aged 0–4 years) Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2012;37:753–72. doi: 10.1139/h2012-063. PubMed DOI

Concentration Variability of Water-Soluble Ions during the Acceptable and Exceeded Pollution in an Industrial Region

The influence of local emissions and regional air pollution transport on a European air pollution hot spot