Toxic air beating down kids, can trigger lung damage
Children at risk of inhaling higher volume of polluted air
NEW DELHI: The air is toxic and children are bearing the brunt.
Children breathe faster than adults per unit of body weight and inhale more contaminants. They are more likely to breathe through their mouths. It increases the pollutants inhaled as they bypass preliminary filtration in the nasal passages.
“Children spend more hours per day outdoors than adults, and play closer to the ground, where particulate matter and air toxins are higher,” says paediatric pulmonologist Dr Krishan Chugh, director of paediatrics at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon.
Air pollutants trigger allergies, cough, viral fever, lung infections, high blood pressure, asthma anxiety, tiredness, diabetes, heart disease and irreversible lung damage.
“The risk is highest in the morning when they are on the way to school or when they are out playing. They inhale a higher volume of polluted that damages their still-developing airways, lungs and immune system,” says Dr Anupam Sibal, senior paediatrician and group medical director, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi.
“Younger children must be kept home. Those going to school should travel in vehicles with windows rolled up. Use masks, stay indoors in the morning and avoid strenuous physical activity till pollution levels drop,” says Dr Chugh.
Children who live or go to school within 500 metres of a busy road have under-developed lungs. They remain like that for the rest of their lives, found a study of schoolchildren from Germany, Sweden, the UK and The Netherlands.
“Ozone lowers immunity and the ability to fight infections. Even short-term exposure causes allergic sensitisation and wheezing,” says Dr Sibal.
Sulphuric acid inhaled disrupts the working of the lungs’ mucociliary clearance system, which raises risk of infections.
Parents of children with existing diseases should plan ahead. “Children with asthma, chronic heart and lung disease, immunecompromised and malnourished children are at risk of symptoms aggravating and infections such as pneumonia,” says Dr Vinod Paul, head of the department of paediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Fog is condensed water droplets in air. A natural environmental phenomenon Usually classified as fog when visibility drops below 1km and humidity level is more than 75%.
Temperature should be low enough for condensation.
Fog usually recorded in early mornings. Does not cause any illness