Filtered air pollution from diesel engines could make allergy-induced lung impairment worse than exposure to unfiltered diesel exhaust, according to new research from the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.
The study, co-authored by Denise Wooding, a master's student in experimental medicine at UBC, was published online this week in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
This surprising result may be due to the fact that some particle-depletion technologies, including the one used by the researchers, increase the amount of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the exhaust. NO2, which is subject to national air quality standards, has been shown to impair lung function and may be a cause of asthma in children.
