Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Study of Fresno Children Finds Exposure to Air Pollution Damages Immune System
News
By News
Published 4 years ago on
February 22, 2021

Share

[aggregation-styles]

Children exposed to air pollution, such as wildfire smoke and car exhaust, for as little as one day may be doomed to higher rates of heart disease and other ailments in adulthood, according to a new Stanford-led study. The analysis, published in Nature Scientific Reports, is the first of its kind to investigate air pollution’s effects at the single cell level and to simultaneously focus on both the cardiovascular and immune systems in children.

The researchers studied a predominantly Hispanic group of children ages 6-8 in Fresno, a city beset with some of the country’s highest air pollution levels due to industrial agriculture and wildfires, among other sources. When air pollution exposure data was combined with responses to health and demographics questionnaires, blood pressure readings and blood samples, the results began to paint a troubling picture.

“I think this is compelling enough for a pediatrician to say that we have evidence air pollution causes changes in the immune and cardiovascular system associated not only with asthma and respiratory diseases, as has been shown before,” said study lead author Mary Prunicki, director of air pollution and health research at Stanford’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research.

The researchers also found that air pollution exposure correlates with an increase in monocytes, white blood cells that play a key role in the buildup of plaques in arteries, and could possibly predispose children to heart disease in adulthood.

Read More →

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Fashion Fair’s Forever 21 to Close. ‘Still a Ways to Go,’ Says Employee

DON'T MISS

Who Runs Elon Musk’s DOGE? Not Musk, the White House Says.

DON'T MISS

New Self-Pollinating Almond Tree Could Be Huge for a Big Fresno Cash Crop

DON'T MISS

Madera County Secures First Fentanyl-Related Homicide Conviction

DON'T MISS

Musk Team Seeks Access to IRS System With Taxpayers’ Records

DON'T MISS

Bannon Calls Musk a ‘Parasitic Illegal Immigrant’

DON'T MISS

Fresno Weather Forecast: Pretty as a Postcard

DON'T MISS

Kennedy Says ‘Nothing’ Off-Limits in Scrutinizing Chronic Disease

DON'T MISS

Judge Declines to Immediately Block Elon Musk or DOGE From Federal Data or Layoffs

DON'T MISS

NBA Playoff Race Heats Up as All-Star Break Ends

UP NEXT

Rise of the Anti-“Woke” Democrat

UP NEXT

High-Level Saudi Visit Follows Multimillion-Dollar Foreign Influence Operation

UP NEXT

Iran and Russia Move to Fill Diplomatic Vacuum in Afghanistan

UP NEXT

Pelosi’s Husband Locked In $5.3 Million From Alphabet Options

UP NEXT

Experts Reportedly See Major Damage in Attack on Iran Centrifuge Plant

UP NEXT

Opinion: School Choice Marches Ahead

UP NEXT

Zakaria: Americans Care About History Because the Stakes Are High

UP NEXT

California Democrats Are Reliably Pro-Labor. But One Union Is Testing Their Patience.

UP NEXT

The Tightrope Walk Democrats Have Ahead on Two Separate Infrastructure Bills

UP NEXT

Bill Barr on Trump’s Election Fraud Claims: “It Was All Bullsh*t”

Madera County Secures First Fentanyl-Related Homicide Conviction

7 hours ago

Musk Team Seeks Access to IRS System With Taxpayers’ Records

8 hours ago

Bannon Calls Musk a ‘Parasitic Illegal Immigrant’

8 hours ago

Fresno Weather Forecast: Pretty as a Postcard

8 hours ago

Kennedy Says ‘Nothing’ Off-Limits in Scrutinizing Chronic Disease

8 hours ago

Judge Declines to Immediately Block Elon Musk or DOGE From Federal Data or Layoffs

8 hours ago

NBA Playoff Race Heats Up as All-Star Break Ends

8 hours ago

NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon Talks ‘Days of Thunder’ Sequel With Tom Cruise

8 hours ago

Adames Joins Giants, Excited to Team Up With Gold Glover Chapman

8 hours ago

Leonard Peltier Released After Biden Commuted Sentence in FBI Agents’ Killings

10 hours ago

Fashion Fair’s Forever 21 to Close. ‘Still a Ways to Go,’ Says Employee

Signs hung throughout fast-fashion clothing store Forever 21 show discounts ranging from 10% to 40% off the “entire store.” And,...

5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Fashion Fair’s Forever 21 to Close. ‘Still a Ways to Go,’ Says Employee

6 hours ago

Who Runs Elon Musk’s DOGE? Not Musk, the White House Says.

7 hours ago

New Self-Pollinating Almond Tree Could Be Huge for a Big Fresno Cash Crop

Fentanyl M30 Pills
7 hours ago

Madera County Secures First Fentanyl-Related Homicide Conviction

8 hours ago

Musk Team Seeks Access to IRS System With Taxpayers’ Records

FILE — Steve Bannon speaks to reporters outside State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Feb. 11, 2025. Stephen Bannon, a top adviser during President Trump’s first term and a key figure among his supporters, said Elon Musk wants to “play-act as God” as part of his push to overhaul the federal government. (Jefferson Siegel/The New York Times)
8 hours ago

Bannon Calls Musk a ‘Parasitic Illegal Immigrant’

8 hours ago

Fresno Weather Forecast: Pretty as a Postcard

8 hours ago

Kennedy Says ‘Nothing’ Off-Limits in Scrutinizing Chronic Disease

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend