Asthma in paediatric intensive care in England residents: observational study

Journal article

There is an increasing body of evidence supporting the link between asthma attacks and air pollution in children. To our knowledge, there has only been one reported case of a fatal asthma attack in a child associated with air pollution and this was in the UK. This article considers why there is a lack of evidence on fatal/near-fatal asthma and air pollution. We also explore three challenges. First, fatal and near-fatal asthma events are rare and not yet well understood. Second, measuring and interpreting personal exposure to air pollution with sufficient temporal and spatial detail are challenging to interpret in the context of individual fatal or near-fatal asthma attacks. Third, current studies are not designed to answer the question of whether or to what extent air pollution is associated with fatal/near-fatal asthma attacks in children. Conclusive evidence is not yet available and systems of data collection for both air pollution and fatal and near-fatal asthma attacks should be enhanced to ensure risk can be determined and impact minimised

Authors: Mukherjee, M; Cunningham, S; Bhuia, MR; Lo, T-YM; Been, JV

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1315-1315
• Publication date: 2022-01-25
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05414-5
• EISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• Language: English
• Keywords: Family medicine; Population; Intensive care medicine; Observational study; Pediatrics; Environmental health; Asthma; Emergency medicine; Socioeconomic status; Medicine; Internal medicine; Intensive care; Epidemiology