35% of children in Bengaluru have asthma, says scientists

As winter set in, the impact of air pollution in the city is even more clearly evident than during any of the seasons in the year. And the sad part about this is its worst victims …. The children..

Recent studies by various government and independent research scientists’ shows 35 percent of the children in the city (Bengaluru) have asthma. While some other isolated studies by paediatricians and pulmonologists indicates that as many as 80 percent of children below the age of five years are suffering from wheezing at least once since their birth. And to add to this the worst lots of kids affected are those who commute to school amid heavy traffic. This has a greater multiplier effect on the children…. In that the children’s lungs fail to grow to their maximum capacity and whatever is left of it continues to affect the child due to a steady build- up of pollutants.

Some of the senior paediatricians and doctors who have been constantly studying the rising trends of children’s worsening health conditions, say, most paediatric asthma cases occur in the age group of three to six. And since there is no perfect lung function test for this age group of children to prove the impact of air pollution it becomes even tougher to diagnose the health conditions of this category of children. In fact some of the studies have also revealed that polluted air inhaled by the mother during pregnancy can affect the off-springs to a great extent.

For ex: a baby born to a pregnant woman living within 100 metres from a highway or a heavy traffic zone would be three times more vulnerable to asthma and other respiratory disorders.

Thus it can be said that rampant and unprecedented Urbanisation clearly has an adverse impact on the health and well-being of the society.

However, it has been observed over the years that the most common triggers for asthma in the city are allergens like dust mites and pollen grains. But when this gets mixed with the city’s polluted air it gives rise to a deadly mix of toxic gases (can also be called - toxicocktail). In Bangalore the cases of asthma among children are majorly from areas like K.R. Puram, Tin Factory Circle, Sarjapur Road, Whitefield, Silk Board junction, Peenya, Mysore Road and their surroundings.

These are the areas where traffic is maximum all across the day. Thus, children commuting on these roads are terribly affected with adverse impact on their health & well being. However, the symptoms of asthma subside or altogether disappear when children move away or out of Bengaluru.

This indicates that the air quality in Bangalore has reached a stage wherein repairing or rebuilding it is going to take a lot of time, money and effort. Schools have started changing their working hours and timings so as to avoid children’s commute during peak traffic. Various companies and offices have also started following this to suit the needs of their employees and more importantly to reduce the impact of air pollution on their health.

Uncontrolled vehicular population has been one of the major reasons that have deteriorated the air quality of Bangalore. In addition to it rampant construction activities in & around the city and lack of any kind of regulation has worsened the air quality. Apart from this the growing number of industries and factories all across the city is gradually deteriorating the peri-urban ecosystem which once acted as a buffer to the growing central business district and its surrounding areas. But these spaces have also joined the bandwagon.

Bangalore today is the second most heavily polluted city in the country. And it is just a matter of time it will soon take over Delhi.