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GIS-modeled indicators of traffic-related air pollutants and adverse pulmonary health among children in El Paso, Texas, USA.
Citation:
Svendsen, E., M. Gonzales, S. Mukerjee, L. Smith, B. Owens, D. Walsh, S. Rhoney, AND G. Andrews. GIS-modeled indicators of traffic-related air pollutants and adverse pulmonary health among children in El Paso, Texas, USA. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 176(7):S131-41, (2012).
Impact/Purpose:
Provides an assessment of concentration-response function for traffic-related nitrogen and volatile organic compounds with children's pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms
Description:
The El Paso Children?s Health Study examined 5,654 children enrolled in the El Paso, Texas public school district by questionnaire in 2001. Exposure measurements were first collected in the late fall of 1999. Then school-level and residence-level exposures to traffic-related air pollutants were estimated using a land-use regression model. For 1,871 children with spirometry, a 10 ppb increment in modeled nitrogen dioxide was associated with a 1.8 percent decrement in forced vital capacity (95% confidence interval (CI): -3.2%, -0.3%) after adjustment for demographic, anthropomorphic, socioeconomic, and spirometer/technician effects. For indicators of levels less than 85 percent of predicted, a 10 ppb increment in modeled nitrogen dioxide was associated with low forced vital capacity (odds ratio (OR) = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.26, 3.99) and low forced expiratory volume at one second (OR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.70). For children attending schools above 1,170 meters, a 10 ppb increment in modeled nitrogen dioxide was associated with current asthma (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.08, 2.25) after adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, parental, and random school effects. These results are consistent with previous studies in Europe and California that have reported adverse health outcomes in children associated with modeled traffic-related air pollutants.