Bad air behind anaemia, low birth weight in kids, finds study

The findings highlight that impacts of pollutants on children’s health were far more adverse as compared to finer particulate matter

A step outside, and one instantly feels that breathing in a densely hazy city with air loaded with pollutants has become heavier. Seasonal grasp of coughs, allergies and prolonged sniffles are more visible, immediate effects of the annual pollution crisis that torments Delhi residents across all age groups. It could, however, have adverse and long-term effects especially on children, which include a significant increase in chances of anaemia, acute respiratory infection and low birth weight, a new study has highlighted.

Children play in a park on a foggy morning in Noida on Wednesday. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The study, peer-reviewed and published in the Nature journal, highlights how exposure to PM2.5 — ultra-fine particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrometres — can impact the health of children. The study shows that for every 10μg m−3 increase in PM2.5 exposure leads to an increase in the possibility of anaemia by 10%, acute respiratory infection by 11% and low birth weight prevalence by 5% among children in India.

The findings also highlight that the impacts of pollutants, including nitrate ions, elemental carbon and ammonium ions on children’s health were far more adverse as compared to finer particulate matter. “We found that the total PM2.5 mass as a surrogate marker for air pollution exposure could substantially underestimate the true composite impact of different components of PM2.5. Our findings provide key indigenous evidence to prioritize control strategies for reducing exposure to more toxic species for greater child health benefits in India,” read the October 19 study.

Every year around October, the air quality in the national capital and the adjoining regions starts to decline significantly, with pollution spiking to dangerous levels. With this, health experts routinely warn, especially the vulnerable population — children, senior citizens and people with pre-existing medical conditions — to take special care of their health.

Estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that every day, around 93% of the children in the world under the age of 15, which is around 1.8 billion children, breathe air that seriously impacts their health and development. A 2018 WHO study revealed that when pregnant women are exposed to polluted air, they are more likely to give birth prematurely, and have small, low birth-weight children. Air pollution also impacts neurodevelopment and cognitive ability and can trigger asthma, and childhood cancer. Children who have been exposed to high levels of air pollution are likely to be at greater risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life, it said.

Dr Anupam Sibal, senior paediatrician, Apollo Hospitals, said,“Around this time, we start seeing two types of cases — children who have pre-existing respiratory illnesses, which gets aggravated in this season, and children who start coughing or have problem breathing.”