An 18-year study in California's South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) indicates that current levels of ozone pollution in this region contribute to an increased risk of hospitalization for children suffering from asthma. The study, reported in the August, 2008 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), used data from children who ranged in age from birth to 19 years, and covered the time period from 1983 to 2000.

Ozone was the only one of five pollutants studied to be associated with increased asthma-related hospital admissions over the study period.

"In terms of numbers, morbidity and health care costs, asthma is the most important chronic disease of childhood, with estimated medical care costs over 1 billion dollars in 2005," said lead study author Kelly Moore, of the Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. "Hospitalization and visits to emergency rooms are major contributors to childhood asthma-related health care costs, and account for approximately 12% of care costs for asthma in children 5-17 years old."

EHP editor-in-chief Hugh A. Tilson, PhD said, "The implications of these findings shine a spotlight on the far-reaching issues of the impact of emissions and ozone pollutants on public health, and the financial impact on overall childhood asthma-related health care costs."

Other authors included Romain Neugebauer, Fred Lurmann, Jane Hall, Vic Brajer, Sianna Alcorn, and Ira Tager.

The article is available free of charge here.

EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services (NIEHS), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. EHP is an Open Access journal. More information is available online at www.ehponline. Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing handles marketing and public relations for the publication, and is responsible for creation and distribution of this press release.