Pediatric Air Pollution and Lung Health focuses on how inhaled pollutants across pregnancy, infancy, and childhood shape respiratory development, symptoms, and lifelong disease risk. Children breathe more air per kilogram than adults, spend more time outdoors, and have developing lungs and immune systems, making them uniquely vulnerable to particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen oxides, indoor smoke, and allergens. This session examines how environmental exposures interact with genetic susceptibility, infections, nutrition, and social determinants to influence wheeze, asthma, bronchiolitis severity, lung function decline, and future chronic respiratory disease. Clinicians, researchers, and public-health professionals increasingly seek an Pediatrics Conference to keep pace with evolving evidence, surveillance methods, and policy debates.

A central theme is translating complex exposure science into practical pediatric respiratory health care. Case discussions will illustrate how even modest pollution peaks can trigger exacerbations for children with asthma or prematurity-related lung disease, and how repeated low-level exposure shapes lung growth trajectories. Participants will discover strategies to integrate questions about home fuels, traffic proximity, second-hand smoke, occupational parent exposures, and school environments into everyday consultations. The session emphasises clear communication about risk without inducing fear, enabling families to make realistic changes within their circumstances while advocating for cleaner air at community and policy levels.

The session also highlights the importance of pediatric lung health promotion as part of broader climate and environmental action. Participants will explore how data on pollution–health relationships inform guidelines, urban planning, and indoor air-quality standards. We will discuss cross-sector collaborations between pediatricians, schools, municipalities, and civil-society groups that protect children during high-pollution days, heatwaves, wildfires, and dust events. Finally, we will consider how research and implementation of pediatric lung health interventions can prioritise equity, focusing on children living near major roads, industrial sites, or in low-income housing where exposures are highest and protective resources are scarcest.

Attendees will examine how pediatric lung function testing, symptom diaries, digital monitoring tools, and geocoded exposure estimates can be used together to personalise care. Practical examples will show how to guide families on managing asthma action plans during pollution spikes, choosing lower-emission household products, improving ventilation, and working with schools to adjust outdoor activities when air-quality indices are poor. The session will also touch on occupational counselling for parents whose jobs increase take-home exposures, such as work with solvents, combustion products, or agricultural chemicals. By the end of the session, participants will be better prepared to integrate air-quality awareness into routine respiratory reviews, design clinic and community initiatives that promote cleaner breathing environments, and advocate confidently for policies that prioritise children’s lungs in environmental decision-making.