Ambient Air Pollution and Respiratory Health in Sub-Saharan African Children: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Yutong Samuel Cai, Harry Gibson, Rema Ramakrishnan, Mohammad Mamouei and Kazem Rahimi
Additional contact information
Yutong Samuel Cai: Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
Harry Gibson: Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
Rema Ramakrishnan: National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
Mohammad Mamouei: Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
Kazem Rahimi: Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 18, 1-13

Abstract: Ambient air pollution is projected to become a major environmental risk in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Research into its health impacts is hindered by limited data. We aimed to investigate the cross-sectional relationship between particulate matter with a diameter ? 2.5 ?m (PM 2.5 ) and prevalence of cough or acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) among children under five in SSA. Data were collected from 31 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in 21 SSA countries between 2005–2018. Prior-month average PM 2.5 preceding the survey date was assessed based on satellite measurements and a chemical transport model. Cough and ALRI in the past two weeks were derived from questionnaires. Associations were analysed using conditional logistic regression within each survey cluster, adjusting for child’s age, sex, birth size, household wealth, maternal education, maternal age and month of the interview. Survey-specific odds ratios (ORs) were pooled using random-effect meta-analysis. Included were 368,366 and 109,664 children for the analysis of cough and ALRI, respectively. On average, 20.5% children had reported a cough, 6.4% reported ALRI, and 32% of children lived in urban areas. Prior-month average PM 2.5 ranged from 8.9 to 64.6 ?g/m 3 . Pooling all surveys, no associations were observed with either outcome in the overall populations. Among countries with medium-to-high Human Development Index, positive associations were observed with both cough (pooled OR: 1.022, 95%CI: 0.982–1.064) and ALRI (pooled OR: 1.018, 95%CI: 0.975–1.064) for 1 ?g/m 3 higher of PM 2.5 . This explorative study found no associations between short-term ambient PM 2.5 and respiratory health among young SSA children, necessitating future analyses using better-defined exposure and health metrics to study this important link.

Keywords: outdoor air pollution; fine particles; lung health; children; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9729/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/18/9729/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:18:p:9729-:d:636221

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().