Truck traffic and its impact on respiratory symptoms in Italian schoolchildren

Aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of self reported heavy traffic in urban city roads on respiratory symptoms in schoolchildren.We evaluated 2177 schoolchildren(1167 females),aged 10-19 years,randomly selected from 16 junior high schools of Palermo, Southern Italy. A respiratory questionnaire was fulfilled including also questions on quality and intensity of vehicular traffic in residential streets. Furthermore,each subject performed spirometry and skin prick tests. Among subjects,12.1% reported a doctor diagnosed asthma(A),10.5% had wheeze in the last 12 months(W),4.4% had current asthma symptoms (CA),2.8% reported chronic cough or phlegm(CC), 34.6% had rhinitis(R),40.1% were atopics. The mean FEV1/FVC%was 88.1%(6.7 SD) among A, and 90.6(6.1 SD) in the remaining subjects(P0.0001). Children reporting high traffic density in the zone of residence were 36.3%; 67.5% and 21.3% of children reported very frequent transit of cars and trucks respectively on the street of residence. High frequency of truck traffic was significantly associated with A