Air Pollution and Asthmatic Attacks in the Los Angeles Area

Abstract

FOE THE PAST decade, the people of Los Angeles have been exposed to air pol¬ lution commonly known as smog.During the smog episodes, some persons complain of eye irritations and coughing.Several physicians in the area have noted that occasionally an asthmatic patient appears ta be worse on smog days.To determine whether asthmatic attacks in a group of patients are related to community- wide air pollution, a study was undertaken in the Pasadena area in the fall of 1956.