Air pollution in London could have contributed to the death of a nine-year-old girl who died of an asthma attack, an inquest has heard.
Ella Kissi-Debrah's 30 hospital admissions almost all took place in the autumn and winter months when air pollution levels near her home in Lewisham were highest, the Guardian reported Professor Stephen Holgate, a respiratory disease expert, as telling the inquest.
Ella died in February 2013 after two-and-a-half years of "living on a knife edge" with acute asthma that led to her lungs either partially or fully collapsing on five occasions.
The inquest will determine if illegal air pollution levels from traffic near Ella's home contributed or caused her death.
Professor Holgate said common triggers of asthma, like allergens or respiratory infections, did not seem to make Ella's flare up.
Ella's asthma was atypical and characterised by hypersecretions in her lungs that blocked her airways.
"She was drowning in her own secretions," he said.
Professor Holgate showed graphs at the inquest which revealed all but two of Ella's 30 hospital admissions happened at the times of year when pollution levels typically peaked.
She died during an episode of high air pollution in London, including near her home in Lewisham.
"Overall the air pollution she was exposed to … was the major driver of her hypersecretory state," Professor Holgate said.
"All the time she is being exposed to NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), she is living on this knife-edge, and moving across the line between being able to carry on, and not being able to carry on, and the frequency and total number of episodes progressively increases until we reach that last period of her life."
If Ella had moved homes to a less-polluted neighbourhood the outcome may have been different, he said.
Ella's mother Rosamund Kissi-Debrah told the inquest earlier this week she would have moved had she known the impact pollution was having on her daughter's asthma.
Professor Holgate praised Ella's mother for pursuing the inquest: "What an amazing person her mother is to have been able to keep on with this and have such resilience … she deserves a huge amount of respect."
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