Associations between Exposure to Industrial Air Pollution and Prevalence of Asthma and Atopic Diseases in Haifa Bay Area

Haifa Bay Area (HBA) contains Israel’s principal industrial area, and there are substantial public concerns about health effects from its emissions. We aimed to examine associations between exposure air pollution HBA area with prevalent asthma other atopic diseases at age 17. This is a cross-sectional study. The study population included all adolescents born in Israel whose medical status was evaluated for mandatory military recruitment by the Israeli corps during 1967–2017. analyzed asthma, allergic rhinitis, dermatitis, rhinoconjunctivitis. estimated kriging interpolation of historical SO2 observations adjusted year birth, SES, school orientation, traffic pollution. n = 2,523,745 adolescents, among which 5.9% had 4.6% rhinitis. Residency associated higher risk compared non-HBA residency. Still, this association limited three lowest categories, while highest group risk. Sensitivity analyses presented similar results. These results do not provide support causal relationships industry-related emissions diseases.