US EPA

An environmental and health database was constructed for Philadelphia, PA for the period 1992-1995 in order to assess the importance of PM components in mass associations with adverse health effects. PM data were collected by Harvard University for the U.S. EPA. Daily measurements included H+, SO4=, PM2.5, PM10, CoH, SO2, O3, CO, NO2, temperature and RH. Fine mass trace element data are also being analyzed for PM source contributions. Daily counts of hospital admissions and mortality were grouped: respiratory, cardiovascular, and total. Comparisons consider days when H+ measurements were made (during 1992-1993), in order to equialize power across pollutants. Poisson time-series regressions, controlled for season, day-of-week, holidays, and weather, were employed to determine PM component-health effect associations.

Wilson, W. PM Constituent Roles In Mass Associations With Health Effects In Philadelphia, PA. Presented at Annual Meeting of International Society of Environmental Epidemiology, September 2000.