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By David Lederer, MD, editor, Annals of the American Thoracic Society

Follow Dr. Lederer on Twitter @AnnalsATSEditor

Air Pollution and Hospitalization for Bronchiolitis Among Young Children

In their November Annals of the American Thoracic Society article, researchers in Israel report on their study of the association between air pollution and hospitalizations due to bronchiolitis, the most common lower respiratory infection of infancy. Maayan Yitshak-Sade and colleagues analyzed records over a 10-year period of two ethnic groups, primarily urban Jews and rural Bedouin-Arabs, and identified 4,069 bronchiolitis hospitalizations. Both particulate matter (PM10) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were associated with these hospitalizations. The researchers found the associations strongest among Bedouin-Arabs living in temporary dwellings and hypothesize that air pollutants more easily penetrate these makeshift structures.

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