July 2, 2011

Who would have thought that learning to relax might help your children breathe better? According to a study conducted at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, children with stressed-out parents appear to be at a higher risk for lung damage from traffic-related pollution. The study is scheduled to appear in the upcoming edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

"This is the first study demonstrating that growing up in a stressful household was associated with larger traffic pollution-induced lung deficits in healthy children compared to low stress households," said lead researcher Talat Islam, MBBS, assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health at Keck School of Medicine, in an American Thoracic Society press release.

The researchers issued a perceived stress questionnaire to 1,399 parents whose children ranged in age from 10 to 12 years old. The children’s exposure to traffic-related pollutants (TRP) was gauged by estimating exposure to nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and total oxides of nitrogen (NOx) both at school and at home.

According to the release, no statistical significance was observed in the relationship alone between parental stress and lung function levels in children, but the the researchers found that in high-stress households, lung function decreased as traffic-related pollution increased. Low-stress households showed no corresponding lung effect.

The study found that in high-stress households, children experienced a nearly 5% loss of lower lung volume and flow in the larger airways for each 22 parts per billion (ppb) increase in NOx. As a benchmark, the current U.S. national limit on airborne NOx is 53 ppb averaged over one year.

"Like air pollution, stress has been linked to both inflammation and oxidative damage at the cellular level, so this may explain the association." said Dr. Islam in the release.

The results are consistent with a 2009 USC study that linked parental stress and asthma from traffic-related pollution in children ages 5 to 9.

Source: American Thoracic Society

Study: Islam T., et al. “Parental Stress Increases the Detrimental Effect of Traffic Exposure on Children's Lung Function.” American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2011 Jun 23. [Epub ahead of print].

Dave Gorczynski is president of SPARK, a non-profit organization that has provided free energy work sessions and workshops across New York City since 2002. He writes a regular column about energy work and meditation for the Compact News in New York City's Chinatown. E-mail him at dave@sparkenergy.org.