Car smoke increases the risk of autism

The risk of autism in children exposed to car smoke is often higher than that of other children.

Heather Volk, an environmental researcher with the University of Southern California in the United States, and her colleagues followed 524 children aged 2 to 5 years in Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco in California to learn about the term. The relationship between motor vehicle smoke and autism, Livescience reported.

Smoke from motorized vehicles contains tiny particles of soot.
They float in the air and can get into the lungs.

The team used the home addresses of the children to assess their exposure to car smoke during pregnancy and the first year after they were born. They also collected data at air pollution monitoring stations and autistic children cases in three cities.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said that car exhaust contains tiny particles of soot. Those soot particles float in the air and can get into people's lungs.

The results showed that the higher the density of soot particles in the air, the greater the risk of autism for children. For example, children living in areas with a density of soot particles in the air at 32 per cent face a much higher risk of autism than children living in areas with a density of 10 parts. billions down.

The level of exposure to soot particles of a person living at least 500m from the road is only half or 1/3 of those living close to the road.

Volk emphasized that air quality does not reflect the density of soot particles from car exhaust in the air. So the risk of autism for children living in areas with good air quality can still increase.