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Jennifer D. Parker,¹ Lara J. Akinbami,¹ and Tracey J. Woodruff²

¹National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, Maryland, USA; ²Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of California–San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

Abstract
Background: Childhood respiratory allergies, which contribute to missed school days and other activity limitations, have increased in recent years, possibly due to environmental factors.

Objective: In this study we examined whether air pollutants are associated with childhood respiratory allergies in the United States.

Methods: For the approximately 70,000 children from the 1999–2005 National Health Interview Survey eligible for this study, we assigned between 40,000 and 60,000 ambient pollution monitoring data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, depending on the pollutant. We used monitors within 20 miles of the child’s residential block group. We used logistic regression models, fit with methods for complex surveys, to examine the associations between the reporting of respiratory allergy or hay fever and annual average exposure to particulate matter ≤ 2.5 µm in diameter (PM_2.5) , PM ≤ 10 µm in diameter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide and summer exposure to ozone, controlling for demographic and geographic factors.

Results: Increased respiratory allergy/hay fever was associated with increased summer O₃ levels [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) per 10 ppb = 1.20 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) , 1.15–1.26] and increased PM_2.5 (AOR per 10 µg/m³ = 1.23 ; 95% CI, 1.10–1.38) . These associations persisted after stratification by urban–rural status, inclusion of multiple pollutants, and definition of exposures by differing exposure radii. No associations between the other pollutants and the reporting respiratory allergy/hay fever were apparent.

Conclusions: These results provide evidence of adverse health for children living in areas with chronic exposure to higher levels of O₃ and PM_2.5 compared with children with lower exposures.

Key words: allergy, children, hay fever, ozone, particulate matter. Environ Health Perspect 117:140–147 (2009) . doi:10.1289/ehp.11497 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 30 September 2008]

Address correspondence to J. Parker, Office of Analysis and Epidemiology, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3311 Toledo Rd., Room 6107, Hyattsville, MD 20782 USA. Telephone: (301) 458-4419. Fax: (301) 458-4038. E-mail: jdparker@cdc.gov

The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Data files were created by N. Kravets, Nova Research, supported by interagency agreement 05-037 between the National Center for Health Statistics and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

The authors declare they have no competing financial interests.

Received 20 March 2008 ; accepted 30 September 2008.