Masks of little help

The impact of air pollution in the city is evident in its worst victims — children. A study by Clean Air Platform shows 25% of kids in Bengaluru have asthma while a pulmonologist says as many as 77% of children below five years have suffered wheezing at least once. The worst affected are those who commute to school amid heavy traffic. This results in a double whammy: Children’s lungs fail to grow to full capacity and whatever is left is compromised due to a steady build-up of pollutants.Paediatric pulmonologist Dr H Paramesh, who was part of the team that formulated the international guidelines on treating childhood asthma, says most paediatric asthma cases occur in the 3-6 age group. “It is tough to diagnose these children as no lung function test can be done at such a tender age,” Paramesh says.Pointing to a Japanese study on childhood asthma, he says polluted air inhaled by the mother during pregnancy can affect her children. “If a pregnant woman lives 50-100 metres from a highway, the babies born to her would be three times more vulnerable to asthma, according to a Japanese study. Urbanisation has an adverse impact on the lungs,” he adds.The most common triggers for asthma in the city are allergens like dust mites and pollen grains which, when mixed with the city’s polluted air, make a toxic cocktail, says Dr KR Bharath Kumar Reddy, director and CEO of Shishuka Children’s Speciality Hospital.Dr Mohan Mahendrakar, paediatrician and neonatologist from Vikram Hospital, says if he sees 15 cases of paediatric asthma in a week, 3-4 will be from areas like KR Puram, Tin Factory Circle and Sarjapur Road. “The first thing I ask them is where they live and where they commute to. The roads that children take and where they live have a huge impact on their health. Areas in and around Tin Factory and Sarjapur Road are notorious for traffic snarls and that’s where air pollution must be the highest. I see the impact of this in my practice as a paediatrician every day. The cases we get are largely referred from doctors in such areas across the city,” says Mahendrakar.Doctors and parents in Bengaluru agree that the symptoms of asthma subside or altogether disappear when the children move from Bengaluru. Chandan Sharma from HSR Layout says his six-year-old son is severely asthmatic in Bengaluru but when they head out on vacations, there is no trouble. “When we travelled to Kochi and Goa, the boy hardly coughed. He was absolutely fine. That is when we realised that the problem lies in Bengaluru’s weather and its pollution,” says Sharma.Rampant construction activities in the city and lack of regulation have only worsened air quality , doctors say. And there is no way out for the unwitting victims.“Masks won’t help,” says Mahendrakar, adding, “Only those sitting in air-conditioned cars with closed windows can avoid air pollution. Options like car pooling, using Metro and enhancing public transport system can avoid individual vehicles being taken out on the road. But for that, the government has to intervene,” he says.As for treatment, inhalers are the best-suited medicine to get rid of childhood asthma but there is resistance among parents who believe their children will get addicted, say city-based paediatricians.