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Impact of the NOx SIP Call on Respiratory Hospitalizations in New York State
Citation:
Lin, S., R. Jones, C. Pantea, V. GARCIA, S. T. RAO, S. Hwang, AND N. Kim. Impact of the NOx SIP Call on Respiratory Hospitalizations in New York State. Chapter 7, Douw G. Steyn and S.T. Rao (ed.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XX. Springer Netherlands, , Netherlands, 7.6(C):549-552, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.
Description:
Asthma is a serious public health problem in New York State (NYS), affecting 8.4% (370,000) children and 7.6% (more than 1.1 million) adults. Asthma burden in New York's urban areas is consistently higher than the national average, with marked differences in prevalence and severity by socio-economic strata. Poor air quality from traffic pollution and other sources has consistently been linked to asthma morbidity. More specifically, nitrogen oxides, criteria pollutants which serve as a precursor to ozone, have been implicated as a player in respiratory irritation. This study investigated whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-mandated NOx State Implementation Plan (NOx SIP) in NYS, aiming to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from major sources during the summer months, had an impact on hospitalizations for asthma and other respiratory illnesses. More specifically, hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases (1997-2006) were compared during the period before the legislation, during the period of partial NOx SIP implementation, and post-implementation.