The relationship between particulate matter and childhood respiratory complaints and peak expiratory flows in Harran agricultural area

Abstract

Background. In recent years, many studies have evaluated the increasing incidence of asthma and chronic respiratory diseases among children living close to rural areas with pesticide application. Pesticide exposure in 266 children (126 girls and 140 boys) in Şanlıurfa, a cotton-producing province in Turkey, was explored in this work. Four different villages spread over 40 km2 were included. Methods. Measurements of peak expiratory flow (PEF) in 266 children were conducted in late June, before intensive pesticide applications in the cotton-producing fields. The measurements were repeated for 72 of 266 children after pesticide application in late August. PEF, particulate matter with diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM < sub > 2.5 < /sub > ), particulate matter with diameter less than 10 μm (PM < sub > 10 < /sub > ), temperature, humidity, and wind speed were measured. Results. After pesticide application, mean PM < sub > 2.5 < /sub > and PM < sub > 10 < /sub > values were significantly increased compared to before pesticide application (p < 0.001 for both parameters). After pesticide exposure, nasal discharge, sneezing, burning and itching in the eyes, cough, sputum production, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness were significantly increased (p < 0.001). The mean PEF value was demonstrated to decrease significantly after pesticide application (p < 0.001). Moreover, significant negative correlations were noted between PEF and PM < sub > 10 < /sub > and between PEF and PM < sub > 2.5 < /sub > (p < 0.001). Conclusions. Intensive pesticide application causes respiratory dysfunction and increased respiratory complaints in children living near the affected agricultural areas, and impacts quality of life adversely. The results of this work can be used to develop an early warning system and methods to prevent respiratory disorders in children residing in the study area.

Studies on Air Pollution and Air Quality in Rural and Agricultural Environments: A Systematic Review

“…The studies considered in this systematic review were principally (n = 8) conducted between 2005 and 2010 [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. Four studies were performed before 2000 [33][34][35][36], while three studies were conducted in the period 2000-2005 [37][38][39], in the period 2010-2015 [40][41][42], and after 2015 [43][44][45] (Table S1; Supplementary Materials).…”

“…Most of the study designs (n = 9) considered a single-season evaluation [31,34,38,39,[42][43][44][45][46]. On the contrary, five and seven works were respectively based on a two-season campaign [27,30,33,36,40] and on four seasons, respectively [25,26,32,35,37,41,47] (Table S1; Supplementary Materials).…”

“…On the contrary, five and seven works were respectively based on a two-season campaign [27,30,33,36,40] and on four seasons, respectively [25,26,32,35,37,41,47] (Table S1; Supplementary Materials). Overall, 16 studies conducted an S/M campaign during the summer season [25][26][27]30,[32][33][34][35]37,39,[41][42][43]45,47], 11 during autumn [25][26][27]30,32,35,37,38,41,44,47], 10 during winter [25,26,31,32,[35][36][37]40,41,46,47], and 10 in spring…”

“…In terms of geographical distribution, most of the studies (n = 7) were conducted in North America [29,31,33,35,37,38,41] and Europe (n = 6) [32,40,41,[45][46][47]. Five studies were conducted in Asia [28,39,[42][43][44], whereas four studies were performed in South America [25,27,30,34] and only one in Africa [26] (Figure S1 and Table S1; Supplementary Materials).…”

“…Regarding the type of studied pollutants, the most investigated pollutants were PM 2.5 [29,31,[38][39][40][42][43][44][45] and PM 10 [25,27,29,35,[38][39][40]45], analyzed in nine and eight studies, respectively. The coarser PM fractions were analyzed in five studies [33][34][35]40,46], the finer fractions in two papers [26,40], and Ultra Fine Particles (UFPs) in a single work [40].…”