A USC study finds boys and girls living closest to the landlocked lake experience more respiratory issues than those farther away.
A USC study finds boys and girls living closest to the landlocked lake experience more respiratory issues than those farther away.
Windblown dust from the shrinking Salton Sea harms the respiratory health of children living nearby, triggering asthma, coughing, wheezing and disrupted sleep, USC research shows.
The findings also indicate that children living closest to the sea, who are exposed to more dust in the air, may be the most affected.
The study, published in Environmental Research, found that 24% of children in the area have asthma — far higher than the national rate of 8.4% for boys and 5.5% for girls. The abnormally high rate raises health experts’ concerns about the children’s health in this predominantly low-income community of color 150 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Read more at University of Southern California
Photo Credit: Tuxyso via Wikimedia Commons
