Young children growing up in towns and cities suffer from more respiratory infections than those who grow up in the countryside, according to research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy.
A second study, presented at the Congress and published in Pediatric Pulmonology today , shows that factors such as attending day care, living in a damp home or near dense traffic increase the risk of chest infections in young children, while breastfeeding reduces the risk.
Researchers recorded whether the children were growing up in urban or rural areas and how many respiratory infections they developed. This revealed that children living in urban areas had an average of 17 respiratory infections, such as coughs and colds, before the age of three compared to an average of 15 infections in children living in rural areas.
"Our results suggest that the environment children live in can have an effect on their developing immune system before they are exposed to coughs and colds. We continue to investigate why some otherwise healthy children are more prone to infections than others and what the implications are for later health. We have several other studies planned that will look for risk factors and try to explain the underlying mechanisms using our large amount of data.
This research provides some important evidence about how we can help reduce chest infections in babies and toddlers. The benefits of breastfeeding are well-established, and we should continue to support mothers who want to breastfeed their babies. We should also be making every effort to reduce exposure to infections in day care, keep homes free of damp and mold, reduce tobacco smoking and cut air pollution.
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