Air pollution and asthma in Athens.

Levels and type of atmospheric pollution are currently an issue of debate in thle pathogenesis of asthma. A number of investigators including Drs Magnussen, Jorres and Nowak (September 1993;48:879-81) suggest that heavy traffic exhausts may be related to increased risk of asthmatic symptoms. According to this theory symptoms of asthma and other allergies would be expected to rise in heavily polluted urban areas. Athens has high levels of air pollution, especially ofnitric oxide. However, the results of the EC Respiratory Health Survey on 3325 subjects aged 20-44 years in Athens were among the lowest in the study (2-4% reported asthma attacks, 2-1% were receiving asthma medication, and 5-6% reported awakening by shortness of breath within the last year).' These data therefore provide no support for the association of increased incidence of asthma with air pollution. On the contrary, we believe that the indoor life style of the urban area studied, with no wall to wall carpets but small rugs which are removed in the summer, very few, if any, pets, use of electric stoves instead of gas, and traditional diet together with high temperature and dry climate for most of the year reduce the exposure to substances that could be important in the prevalence of asthma.