为了研究沙尘暴对儿童可能造成的急性危害,以沙尘暴源区——甘肃省武威市的某2所小学3~5年级的1040名学生(年龄8~14岁)为研究对象,在2004年和2005年的3~5月沙尘暴频发期间进行健康状况问卷调查,共调查4场沙尘暴事件,所调查的症状有咳嗽、咯痰、气短、肺部喘鸣、胸部憋闷、咽干口苦、眼睛干涩、流泪、流涕、打喷嚏、心情压抑等11种常见的症状.结果表明,沙尘暴发生当天(滞后叫)儿童各种所查症状发生的相对危险度(RR)均有不同程度地升高,沙尘暴过后(滞后1~5d),儿童各种症状的RR逐渐降低,沙尘暴过后4d(滞后4d),几乎所有症状均恢复正常.暴露儿童在沙尘暴发生当天,除肺部喘鸣和胸部憋闷发生的RR升高不显著外(p〉0.05),其他所查症状发生的RR均有显著性升高(p〈0.05,p〈0.01,p〈0.001).沙尘暴过后虽然各种症状RR均有所下降,但下降速度不同:在滞后1~2d,气短、眼睛干涩、流泪和心情压抑等4种症状RR仍显著高于沙尘暴前,直到滞后3d才恢复到正常水平;而咳嗽、咯痰、咽干口苦和打喷嚏等4种症状RR在滞后4d才恢复正常;流涕症状RR在滞后5d才基本恢复正常.不同年度和不同时期的沙尘暴事件对儿童健康症状的影响有所不同.从以上结果可以看出:沙尘暴对儿童的健康既有当日急性效应又有一定的短期滞后效应.
In order to explore whether dust storms may produce some adverse acute impacts on children, two primary schools in Wuwei city, Gansu Province, China were selected. During the period of dust storms in March-May of 2004 and 2005, investigations targeted to 1040 pupils (8 -14 years old)from third to fifth grades were conducted by questionnaires. Relative risks (RR) induced by the dust storms were investigated for 11 kinds of symptoms, including cough, phlegm, breathe hard, rhonchi persisting in the lung, thorax depressed, throat desiccation and nonnasality saline, ocular acerbity, lachrymation, snivel, stemutation, and temper oppression. Results showed that: compared with the days before dust storms, the RRs of symptoms increased significantly on the accident day (p〈0.05, p〈0.01, p〈0.001 ) except rhonchi persisting in the lung and thorax depressed(p〉0.05 ). The RRs of symptoms decreased gradually after the accident day (1ag 1-5d). The RRs of breathe hard, ocular acerbity, lachrymation and temper oppression returned to normal level on the lag 3d; the RRs of cough, phlegm, throat desiccation and nonnasality saline and stemutation returned to normal level on the lag 4d; the RR of snivel returned to normal on the lag 5d. The effects of dust storms on the symptoms of children in different months and years were different. These results indicated that the children health effects induced by the dust storms were acute, also were short-time lagging.