News Items

News Item - July 2010

"New Australian report examines relationship between air pollution and asthma."

A new report examining the relationship between air pollution and asthma was released on Monday 22 March 2010 by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

"Monitoring the impact of air pollution on asthma in Australia" presents a method for estimating the contribution of air pollution to asthma hospitalisations and includes a Melbourne case study.

The case study estimated that about 3% of the 6,200 asthma hospitalisations in Melbourne in 2006 were related to exposure to nitrogen dioxide, while about 4% of the 3,533 asthma hospitalisations of 0 to 14 year olds were related to particles in the air.

'Linking air pollution to health outcomes is fraught with complexities,' said Dr Adrian Webster of the AIHW's Respiratory Conditions and Primary Care Unit. 'For example, there are key gaps in what we know about how air pollution affects asthma as well as weaknesses in available data sources that make drawing conclusions difficult.' 'These limitations aside, this report attempts to focus the research in this area on key issues and identifies a methodology that could be used for monitoring the impact of air pollution on asthma hospitalisations over time.'

• Read the Summary and Full Report          pub. March 22nd 2010.