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THE DETROIT CHILDREN'S HEALTH STUDY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECTS OF AMBIENT AIR EXPOSURE ON THE RESPIRATORY HEALTH OF ASTHMATIC CHILDREN
Citation:
WILLIAMS, A. H., G. ANDREWS, S. MUKERJEE, AND L. M. NEAS. THE DETROIT CHILDREN'S HEALTH STUDY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE EFFECTS OF AMBIENT AIR EXPOSURE ON THE RESPIRATORY HEALTH OF ASTHMATIC CHILDREN. Presented at EPA Science Forum 2005, Washington, DC, May 16 - 18, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
Overall Goal: To develop spatial analyses using limited network-based air quality and GIS and other ancillary spatial information to estimate exposures for epidemiological analyses in urban populations.
Goal of NERL Contribution: To develop ambient-GIS regression-based spatial models using said ambient measures and ancillary information to predict such exposures at unmonitored locations and assess neighborhood differences in air pollutant concentrations.
Specific Objectives:
1. To determine spatial associations among measured levels of VOC, NO2, and (possibly) PM from mobile and other urban sources in Detroit/Dearborn. Spatial variability in air pollutant concentrations will be determined using the ambient measurements at the schools and available surrogates of motor vehicle and other urban emissions (from GIS databases). These measured or predicted spatial associations will then be used by NHEERL to ultimately assess impact of these pollutants on children's exposures in schools.
2. To evaluate accuracy of VOC, NO2 and PM measurements using passive devices versus collocated FRM devices. In addition, to evaluate precision of collocated passive devices.
Description:
The United States has experienced a significant increase in childhood asthma since the late 1980s. EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection estimates that one out of every fifteen children under 18 years of age has asthma. In children under 5 years of age, asthma rates have increased 160 percent in the past 18 years. The Detroit Children's Health Study (DCHS) will examine the question of whether long-term, early-life exposures to emissions from traffic and other urban sources play a key role in the development and aggravation of allergic asthma in schoolchildren. Scientists from EPA's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL), carrying out the epidemiologic and respiratory health study, are collaborating with those of EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) to conduct an exposure assessment of air in the Detroit area. The study will aid in the further development of an Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7403(d)).