You are here:
Feasibility of assessing the public health impacts of air pollution reduction programs on a local scale: New Haven accountability case study
Citation:
LOBDELL, D. T., V. Isakov, L. BAXTER, J. S. Touma, J. S. Touma, M. SMUTS, AND H. A. OZKAYNAK. Feasibility of assessing the public health impacts of air pollution reduction programs on a local scale: New Haven accountability case study. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC, 119(4):487-493, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
This study's objective was to examine the feasibility of conducting a local assessment of the public health impacts of cumulative air pollution reduction activities from the federal, state, local and voluntary actions in the City of New Haven, CT.
Description:
Background: New approaches on how to link health surveillance data with environmental and population exposure information are needed in order to examine the health benefits of risk management decisions. Objective: This study's objective was to examine the feasibility of conducting a local assessment of the public health impacts of cumulative air pollution reduction activities from the federal, state, local and voluntary actions in the City of New Haven, CT. Methods: Using a hybrid modeling approach that combines regional and local-scale air quality, ambient concentrations for multiple air pollutants (e.g., PM2.5, NOx) were estimated for base year 2001 emissions and for projected emissions in 2010, 2020, and 2030. The feasibility of conducting an accountability study involving 34 different pollutant/health outcome linkages was performed using both sample size and exploratory epidemiological simulations. Results: Modeling showed decreases (-10% to 60%) in pollutant concentrations mainly from local sources and mostly between 2001 and 2010. Considerable spatial variability in most pollutant concentrations was found within the city. Sample size analyses indicated feasibility of showing pollutant/health outcome linkages for NOx related improvements with all-cause mortality, current prevalence asthma in children and adults, cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalizations. Conclusion: With traditional epidemiologic study designs significant reductions in air pollution (e.g., -60% as found for NOx) are needed in small communities like New Haven to assess health impacts of environmental actions. Exploratory epidemiologic simulations showed that it may be feasible to demonstrate health impacts of PM reductions by predicting intra urban pollution gradients within New Haven using coupled models.
