Frailty, environmental justice and the health impact of PM2.5
Citation:
Neas, L., A. Rappold, AND A. Cates. Frailty, environmental justice and the health impact of PM2.5. International Society of Environmental Epidemiology 2016 Conference, Rome, ITALY, August 30 - September 04, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Minimal impact of this abstract
Description:
Previous studies have shown heterogeneity in the association of daily mortality with fine particulate matter (PM2.5) across metropolitan areas. We have examined factors related to frailty and environmental justice as potential determinants. For Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSA) and their Metropolitan Divisions (MD) in the United States for 1999-2005, area-specific log rate ratios (betas) were derived from a time-series model adjusting for time, an interaction with age-group, day of week, and natural splines of current temperature, current dew point, and unconstrained temperature at lags 1, 2 and 3. For 267 CBSA/MD with at least 60 deaths per year in a racial category, we calculated area-specific abridged life expectancies at age 25 years for 2000 with random effects for the interaction of area, sex, and race. Life expectancies differed by race and sex, with even greater variation across areas. From the 2000 Census, we also calculated the proportions Black and aged 75 years and over. The heterogeneity in the betas was assessed by linear regression with inverse variance weights. For a three variable model that explained 11% of the variation, we found that the weighted mean PM2.5 association (0.96 percent increase in total non-accidental mortality for a 10 g/m3 increment in PM2.5 at lag 1) increased by 0.27 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.17 to 0.38) for a year increment in life expectancy for Black women, by 0.14 (95% CI 0.05 to 0.24) for a year increment in the male excess of White over Black life expectancy, and by 0.12 (0.04 to 0.20) for each one percent increment in the proportion aged 75 years and older. In our data, the health impact of PM2.5 on mortality increases with increases in the proportion elderly and independently with increases in life expectancy and the discrepancy between White and Black life expectancy.This an abstract of a presentation and does not necessarily reflect the policies of the US Environmental Protection Agency.