Respiratory morbidity inMerseyside schoolchildren exposed tocoaldustandair pollution

A crosssectional studywascarried outto determine whetherschoolchildren ina specific locality exposed topollution from steamcoaldusthaveanexcess ofrespiratorysymptomscomparedwithchildren in control areas. A total of1872primaryschoolchildren (aged5-11years)from fiveprimary schoolsin the Bootledockareaof Liverpool (exposed area),fiveprimary schools inSouthSefton(control area), andfiveprimaryschools inWallasey (control area)werestudied. A questionnairewasdistributed through theschools andwas completed by theparentsof thechildren. Thequestionnaire inquired aboutrespiratory symptoms (cough, wheezing,and shortness of breath), allergy, atopy,smoking, andsocioeconomicfactors. Height, weight, andpeak expiratory flowweremeasured. Compliancewas good (92%)and similar inthethreestudyareas.The children inthethree areaswereofsimilar meanage(7.5 years), height (1-24 m),sex ratio, andhada similar prevalence of paternal(6.2%)and maternal(7%) asthma.The exposedzone contained more unemployed parents(41,29,and 29%respectively), morerentedhousing (64, 45,34%),andmoresmoking parents (71,60,59%)thanthecontrol areas. Respiratory symptomsweresignificantly more common in theexposedarea, including wheeze(25.0, 20-6, and17.5%), excesscough(40.0, 23-4, and25-1%), and school absences forrespiratory symptoms (47-5, 35-9, and34-9%). Thesedifferences remainedsignificant evenifthegroups weresubdivided according towhetheror notparentssmokedorwereemployed.