Who is most at risk for experiencing the health effects of ozone?
• Children. Children are more sensitive to pollution than adults. Children typically spend more time and are more active outdoors. Pound for pound, they breathe more than adults. They breathe, drink, and eat to grow, not just to maintain themselves. Their air passages are also narrower than adults, so it takes less inflammation or irritation to obstruct a child’s airways. Children are also more likely to have asthma or other respiratory illnesses. • Adults who are active outdoors. Healthy adults of all ages who exercise or work vigorously outdoors are considered a “sensitive group” because they have a higher level of exposure to ozone than people who are less active outdoors. Ozone is typically a problem in the afternoon due to pollution generated in the morning. • People with respiratory diseases, such as asthma. There is no evidence that ozone causes asthma or other chronic respiratory disease, but these diseases do make the lungs more vulnerable to the effects of ozone. • People wit
