The study was conducted in Guangzhou, the provincial
capital of Guangdong province in southern China. A rapid
increase in the number of automobiles concomitant with
the intensive development of industry and urbanization
has led to a deterioration of air quality. Three districts
representing different air pollution levels were selected on
the basis of 2002e2006 annual average air pollutant
concentrations. Two districts e a highly-polluted district
(HPD) and a moderately-polluted district (MPD) are located
in city center, while the least-polluted district (LPD) is
a suburban residential area. One to four primary schools in
each district were invited to participate in the study. All
schools were within 1 km from the local air monitoring
station in the district, and there were no factories within
100 m from any of the selected schools.
Primary schoolchildren in Grade 3 and 4 in the selected
schools were recruited at the start of the study. Only
children who lived in the same district as their schools for
a continuous period not less than 12 months were included
in the final analysis. The baseline study was carried out
from September to November 2006, and follow-up was done
6 months later, from April to June 2007. Informed consent
was obtained from the parents prior to the survey. This
study has been approved by the Medical Research Ethics
Committee of Sun Yat-sen University