Children living in cities more susceptible to respiratory infections: Study

Young children who grow up in towns and cities experience more respiratory ailments than those who do so in villages, according to a study presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan, Italy.
Dr Nicklas Brustad, a physician and researcher from the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC), based at Gentofte Hospital and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, presented the study. It included 663 children and their mothers who participated in the research from pregnancy until the children were three years old.
Prior to the age of three, children who lived in urban areas experienced an average of 17 respiratory infections, such as colds and coughs, as opposed to an average of 15 infections among children who resided in rural areas.
Dr Brustad said, "Our findings suggest that urban living is an independent risk factor for developing infections in early life when taking account of several related factors such as exposure to air pollution and starting daycare. Interestingly, changes in the blood of pregnant mothers and newborn babies, as well as changes in the newborn immune system, seem to partly explain this relationship.”