Study: Southern California millennial children show better lungs due to cleaner air

THE lungs of millennial children living in Southern California are in much better shape compared to those who grew up with more polluted air in the 1990s, according to a study from the University of Southern California.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, March 5, examined 2,120 subjects ages 11 to 15 from Long Beach, Mira Loma, Riverside, San Dimas and Upland throughout a 22-year period. By having children blow into a spirometer, researchers tested their lung capacity and growth by measuring the amount of air they exhaled and the speed of their breath.

James Gauderman, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at USC and the study’s senior author, explained that children’s lungs grow fast between the ages of 11 to 15.

The authors found that the most recent group of children possessed lungs with greater capacities and ones that grew faster with the decline in air pollution levels.

“We found improvements in air quality come with substantial improvements in children lung development and lung function by the time they reach 18,” said James Gauderman, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at USC and the study’s senior author, during a press briefing.

In the first group, about 8 percent of children had abnormally low lung function, but that number fell to 3.6 percent in the latest group, the study showed.

The findings of the $30-million study indicate that the tightening of regulations on vehicle emissions, refineries and factories are resulting in healthier lungs for Southern California children.

“I think what this study demonstrates is the respiratory illnesses we see in children in Southern California are preventable,” said Penny Newman, executive director of the Center for Community Action and Environment Justice in Riverside County, according to the Tribune.

If additional grant monies are approved, researchers want to re-examine the first group, all of whom are now in their 30s, to see if inhaling dirtier air as children has an impact on respiratory health as adults. Gauderman said adults with smaller lungs may be more prone to respiratory problems, including shorter life spans.

(With reports from San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

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(LA Weekend March 7-10, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)