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Title: Air Quality Improvement and the Prevalence of Frequent Ear Infections in Children

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2010

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To determine whether air quality influences the prevalence of pediatric frequent ear infections and respiratory allergy. STUDY DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Academic medical center. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The National Health Interview Survey child sample for the calendar years 1997 through 2006 was analyzed, extracting 12-month prevalence data for the following three disease conditions: frequent (>= 3 within 12 months) ear infections, respiratory allergy, and seizures (non-respiratory control condition). Based on information from the Environmental Protection Agency, yearly historical data for the air quality criteria pollutants carbon monoxide, nitrous dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter were tabulated. Graphical and linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the influence of air quality on each of the disease conditions. RESULTS: A total of 126,060 children were studied (51.4% male, mean age 8.6 yrs). Overall, the 12-month prevalence for three or more ear infections, respiratory allergy, and seizures was 6.6%, 11.7%, and 0.7%, respectively. Air quality steadily improved over the study period. Statistically significant positive regression coefficients were obtained for each of the criteria pollutants with ear infections (all P = 0.409). For the nonrespiratory condition seizures, nonsignificant regression coefficients were again identified (all P >= 0.404). CONCLUSIONS: Better air quality is significantly associated with lower prevalence of pediatric frequent ear infections but is not associated with the prevalence of pediatric respiratory allergy. Improvements in air quality may be implicated in the decreased rates of pediatric ear infections over time. (C) 2010 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. All rights reserved.

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Authors: Bhattacharyya, Neil; Shapiro, Nina L.

Conference Name: Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Foundation

Publisher Location: San Diego, CA

Data Collections: IPUMS Health Surveys - NHIS

Topics: Health, Other

Countries:

IPUMS NHGIS NAPP IHIS ATUS Terrapop