The Children's Health Study (CHS) is one of the largest and most detailed studies of the long-term effects of air pollution on the respiratory health of children. More than 11,000 school children living in southern California are involved in this ongoing study. Data on their health, exposure to air pollution, and factors that affected their responses to air pollution were gathered annually from elementary through senior high school. Findings from these studies have led to changes in state and federal guidelines to improve air quality standards and urban planning decisions and better protect and improve everyone’s health.

On March 5, 2015, new research from the Children’s Health Study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This specific study, led by W. James Gauderman, measured lung development between the ages of 11 and 15 and found improvements in children’s lungs for children studied from 2007 to 2011, compared to children of the same age in the same communities from 1994-98 and 1997-2001. Results showed improvements in children’s lungs over the past 20 years that parallel the improving air quality in the communities studied as policies to fight pollution took place.

A year later, April 2016, findings expanded with study led by Kiros Berhane et al, which compared the same group of children and estimated the association of change in pollution levels with bronchitic symptoms over the past 20 years. They found that as pollution levels dropped in the Los Angeles region so did bronchitic symptoms. For more information and official news releases please visit the USC Environmental Health Centers blog page.