A new study found that ozone can increase the risk of asthma and wheezing even with small increase in air pollution during the first two years of child’s life. Research published on April 2 at the Jama Network Open shows that the respiratory health of children can be quickly affected by exposure to this normal pollutant.

Ozone, a harmful gas is formed when sunlight reacts with emissions from vehicles, power plants and factories, often known to cross American air quality standards. Researchers say that during the toddlerhood, there was a 31% increased risk of asthma with exposure to only 2-Part-Billion growth in ozone levels during toddlerhood and a 30 percent increased risk from preschool age.

Interestingly, there was no threat of asthma in children between the ages of 8 and 9 in the study, which surprised the findings to some extent. Logan Dearborne, a prominent researcher of a doctoral student of the Department of Environment and Vocational Health Sciences of Washington University, said, “This is something we have spent in an attempt to consider, and I don’t know if we had ever come with a satisfactory answer.”

Despite the vague cause of lack of impact in older children, Dearborne emphasized the importance of conclusions. He said in a news release, “Even though we only see the effects in life, there are still all kinds of related health care costs and stress for families.”

The research team analyzed more than 1,100 children’s data as part of a federal project, in which it was studied how environmental factor affects child health. These children were from six cities across the United States- Minianpolis, San Francisco, Seattle, Memphis, Rochester (NY), and Yakima (Washington). Researchers compared the reports of their children’s asthma mothers and did wheezing with a federal record of local ozone pollution levels.

While earlier studies have linked childhood asthma with air pollutants such as proper particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, the effect of ozone alone is less deemed. This study shows that ozone should be taken more seriously when it comes to children’s health.

When researchers studied the effects of ozone with other normal pollutants – nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter – they found that ozone had a particularly strong effect. The risk of asthma was high when ozone levels were above 25 parts, regardless of nitrogen dioxide levels. Interestingly, the relationship between ozone and asthma was only clear when the fine particulate matter was also present at the average level or above, suggests a complex interaction between different pollutants.

The study asks for further investigation why ozone exposure does not seem to affect older children and whether the risk may come back during adolescence. However, the results already indicate the need for more comprehensive air quality rules.

“In the United States, the ozone rules consider only a very short time period,” Dearborne said. “Perhaps we should consider both short and long -term threshold when regulating ozone, especially to protect children’s health.”

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