ABSTRACT
Objective:To compare the differences of children’ s health in different area, and to confirm if the prevalence of respiratory diseases and symptoms among children are closely associated with the air pollution. Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban area A and a suburban area B with different levels of air pollution in Beijing. Using a cluster sampling method, we recruited 4 564 chil-dren from 3 primary schools in urban A and 4 primary schools in suburban B. Respiratory symptoms were investigated using an international standardized questionnaire including characteristics of children, living conditions, respiratory diseases and symptoms and situation of parents. The concentrations of air pollu-tants for recent five years were obtained from Reports on the Quality of the Beijing Environment. SPSS 16. 0 was used to analyze data. Results: The prevalence of cough, persistent cough, phlegm, persistent phlegm, wheeze and asthma in A area were higher than those in B area[(62. 2% vs. 59. 9%), (6. 3%vs. 3. 1%), (42. 4% vs. 37. 4%),(3. 6% vs. 2. 4%),(13. 3% vs. 9. 9%) and(9. 5% vs. 5. 4%)]. Except for cough, cough with cold, cough without cold, the prevalence of respiratory diseases and symp-toms in A area were significantly higher than those in B area ( P <0 . 05 ) . Logistic regression analysis showed the prevalence of persistent cough, phlegm without cold, asthma in A area were significantly higher than those in B area ( P<0 . 05 ) . Conclusion:Respiratory diseases and symptoms among school-age children were closely associated with the level of air pollution.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To study the concentrations of fine particulate matters and ultrafine particles and influenced factors during winter in an area of Beijing .Methods:Real-time monitoring of particles ’ mass and number concentrations were conducted in an area of Beijing from February 7th to 27th , 2013.At the same time, the meteorological data were also collected from the Beijing meteorological website .Differences of the particles ’ mass and number concentrations during different periods were analyzed using Mann -Whitney U test.Meanwhile, the influenced factors were also analyzed .Results: The mean concentra-tions of fine particulate matters and ultrafine particles were ( 157.2 ±142.8 ) μg/m3 and (25 018 ± 9 309) particles/cm3, respectively.The particles’ number and mass concentrations in haze days were 1.27 times and 2.91 times higher than those in non-haze days, respectively.The mass concentrations of fine particulate matters in the self-monitoring site were higher than those in the nearest central monitoring sites, and the hourly-average concentrations of particles were significantly consistent with those at the commuter times.Meanwhile, the setting off of fireworks/firecrackers during the Spring Festival could lead to short-term increases of the particles ’ number and mass concentrations .When the wind speed was low and the related humidity was high , the concentrations of particulate matters were relatively high , and the mass concentrations of fine particulate matters were lagged about 1-2 d.Conclusion: The level of the particulate matters in this area was high .Heavy traffic , setting off of fireworks/firecrackers and meteoro-logical factors may be some of the main factors affecting the concentrations of the particulate matters in this area.Among those factors, the effect of setting off of fireworks/firecrackers didn’t last long and the effect of the meteorological factors had a hysteresis effect .