A new study by a team of University of Southern California researchers claims that children exposed to poor air quality are at greater risk of (self-reported) bronchitis symptoms than are adults. But this health claim is tenuous.
Published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the study uses data sets from a 30-year-old Southern California Children’s Health Study cohort—with a long length of time between exposure and presumed response of self-reported bronchitis.
In addition to the time delay, the study—led by professor Erika Garcia—suffers from other problems.
First, it contains a heavy crossover between asthma, which is an allergic disease, and bronchitis. Patients who claimed they suffered from bronchitis (but were treated for asthma) have seen their symptoms disappear.
Further, doctors know that inhaling irritating…
