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Yueliang Leon Guo,¹ Ying-Chu Lin,¹ Fung-Chang Sung,² Song-Lih Huang,³ Ying-Chin Ko,⁴ Jim-Shoung Lai,⁵ Huey-Jen Su,¹ Cheng-Kuang Shaw,⁶ Ruey-Shiung Lin,⁷ and Douglas W. Dockery⁸

¹Environmental and Occupational Health, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
²Institute of Environmental Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
³Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
⁴Department of Public Health, Kaohsiung Medical College, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
⁵School of Occupational Safety and Health, China Medical College, Taichung, Taiwan
⁶Department of Public Health, Tzu-Chi College of Medicine and Humanities, Hua-lien, Taiwan
⁷Institute of Epidemiology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
⁸Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

This study compared the prevalence of asthma with climate and air pollutant data to determine the relationship between asthma prevalence and these factors. We conducted a nationwide survey of respiratory illness and symptoms in middle-school students in Taiwan. Lifetime prevalences of physician-diagnosed asthma and of typical symptoms of asthma were compared to air monitoring station data for temperature, relative humidity, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter 10 µm (PM₁₀) . A total of 331,686 nonsmoking children attended schools located within 2 km of 55 stations. Asthma prevalence rates adjusted for age, history of atopic eczema, and parental education were associated with nonsummer (June-August) temperature, winter (January-March) humidity, and traffic-related air pollution, especially carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, for both girls and boys. Nonsummer temperature, winter humidity, and traffic-related air pollution, especially carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, were positively associated with the prevalence of asthma in middle-school students in Taiwan. Key words: air pollution, asthma, children, climate, environmental exposure. Environ Health Perspect 107:1001-1006 (1999) . [Online 17 November 1999]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1999/107p1001-1006guo/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to R-S. Lin, Institute of Epidemiology, National Taiwan University, 1 Jen Ai Road, Sec 1, Taipei, Taiwan. Telephone: 886 2 2391 4424. Fax: 886 2 2341 8997. E-mail: linrs@episerv.cph.ntu.edu.tw

We thank the collaborators in the participating centers and all of the parents, children, teachers, and other school staff who participated in the surveys. We also thank the field workers who supported data collection.

This study was partially funded by the Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan, and partially supported by NSC grant 87-2621-P-006-013.

Received 12 May 1999 ; accepted 30 July 1999.