THE study of the influence of atmospheric pollution on respiratory disease in adults is difficult, because of complicating factors such as smoking, changes in occupation, and migration.Studies in young children avoid these difficulties and the child's atmospheric environment can be fairly precisely defined for most of his life by the conditions in the area in which he lives.On the other hand, children may not show so much response as adults to general atmospheric pollution, partly because they have not been exposed for so long and partly because they may not be as sensitive as adults who are subject to the additional insult of tobacco smoke and industrial fumes and dusts.Nevertheless, several reports suggest that atmospheric pollution may be an im- portant factor in the causation of respiratory illness in children.Toyama and Tomono (1961) showed that a group of 10-and 11-year-old schoolchildren living in a highly polluted industrial area had lower peak flow and forced expiratory volume in 0-5 second (FEVO.5)measurements than a group living Protected by copyright.
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Lunn et al. (1970) studied this question.