The Road to Asthma
Among Cypriot children, is there a link between living on a main road and episodes of wheezing, a symptom of asthma? To answer this question, Nicos Middleton and his colleagues are looking for patterns.

Using data compiled by the government of Cyprus, Middleton is constructing a map of Nicosia that combines children’s geographical locations with information regarding their health status for the period 2001-2002. The map, a work in progress, merges the residential addresses of children ages 7-8 who had episodes of wheezing (red triangles) or none (blue dots) with relative levels of airborne particulate matter along the main road in one section of the city. Red lines indicate the highest levels; yellow, intermediate levels; green, the lowest levels. The broken green line at the top represents the virtual divide between the Turkish Cypriot north and Greek Cypriot south.

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Amy Roeder is the development communications coordinator for the Office for Resource Development at HSPH.

Wheezing map, courtesy of Nicos Middleton