Research Hub

In recent decades, epidemiological and experimental research has yielded plenty of evidence that air pollution exposure is a key risk factor for asthma flare-ups and, potentially, new cases.1,2 A study in Environmental Health Perspectives offers the first estimates of the global asthma burden that may be attributable to specific air pollutants.3 Although preliminary, the authors’ conclusions are sobering. They estimated that in 2015, some 9–23 million asthma-induced emergency room visits worldwide resulted from ozone exposure, 5–10 million resulted from fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure, and 400,000–500,000 resulted from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure.

Published Jul 17, 2019

Seltenrich, N. (2019). Asthma actors: Estimating how much specific air pollutants contribute to ER visits. Environmental Health Perspectives, 127(7), 9–10. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4799

Although several empirical studies and systematic reviews have documented the mental health impacts of global climate change, the range of impacts has not been well understood. This review examines mental health impacts of three types of climate-related events: (1) acute events such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires; (2) subacute or long-term changes such as drought and heat stress; and (3) the existential threat of long-lasting changes, including higher temperatures, rising sea levels and a permanently altered and potentially uninhabitable physical environment. The impacts represent both direct (i.e. heat stress) and indirect (i.e. economic loss, threats to health and well-being, displacement and forced migration, collective violence and civil conflict, and alienation from a degraded environment) consequences of global climate change.

Published Jun 23, 2019

Palinkas, L. A., & Wong, M. (2020). Global climate change and mental health. In Current Opinion in Psychology (Vol. 32, pp. 12–16). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.023

Environmental racism plagues the history and contemporary realities of globalization. To control resources, stake holders seek to
dominate lands and peoples in order to produce at a maximum profit. Left in the wake of consumerism are populations of ethnic,
religious, and racial minorities. These groups traditionally have an attachment to ancestral lands they wish to protect or are unable
to compete with large corporations who establish environmentally unfriendly conditions and unfair working situations for underserved populations. Since a mentality of ‘Not in My Backyard’ (NIMBY) perpetuates apathy for addressing iniquities, remediation of
these issues has been slow to non-existent. The value of exploring specific instances and recurring trends within regions of inequity
and destructive ecological policy cannot be understated. Without awareness, change is impossible. Inherently, methodologies used
to analyze current global systems are imperialist in nature and create further distance from the subjects exposed to detrimental
corporate and policy decisions. This research provides an historic overview of globalized environmental racism in order to address
and combat negative choices affecting marginalized communities throughout the world.

Published Jun 21, 2019

Mcintyre-Brewer, C. (2019). Environmental racism throughout the history of economic globalization. AUC Geographica, 54(1), 105–113. https://doi.org/10.14712/23361980.2019.10

Coal-based energy production is the most utilized method of electricity production worldwide and releases the highest concentration of gaseous, particulate, and metallic pollutants. This article aims to systematically review the public health impact of coal-fired power plant emissions on children’s health. PubMed, Web of Science, and Toxline databases were queried for the past 20 years. Inclusion criteria included original scientific articles with (a) coal-fired power plant exposure assessment, (b) at least one primary pediatric health outcome, and (c) assessment of potential sources of confounding and bias. Only morbidity and mortality studies were included; economic analysis and risk assessment studies without a primary health outcome were not included. Of 513 articles initially retrieved, 17 epidemiological articles were included in the final systematic review after screening and eligibility. The articles reviewed showed a statistically significant adverse effect on pediatric neurodevelopment; birth weight and pediatric respiratory morbidity was associated with exposure to coal-fired power plant emissions, primarily particulate matter and polyaromatic hydrocarbon exposure. There is a lack of consistency of exposure assessment and inadequate control of significant potential confounders such as social economic status. Future research should focus on improving exposure assessment models with an emphasis on source-apportionment and geographic information system methods to model power plant-specific emissions.

Published Jun 5, 2019

Amster, E., & Levy, C. L. (2019). Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(11), 2008. https://doi.org/10.3390/IJERPH16112008

Background
While air pollution has been associated with depression and anxiety in adults, its impact on childhood mental health is understudied.
Objective
We examined lifetime exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and symptoms of depression and anxiety at age 12 years in the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study cohort.
Methods
We estimated exposure to elemental carbon attributable to traffic (ECAT), a surrogate of diesel exhaust, at birth, age 12 years, and average exposure throughout childhood, using a validated land use regression model. We assessed depression and anxiety at age 12 years by parent report with the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2, and by child report with the Child Depression Inventory-2 (CDI-2) and the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS). Associations between TRAP at birth, age 12 years, and childhood average and mental health outcomes were estimated using linear regression models adjusting for covariates including parent depression, secondhand smoke exposure, race, household income, and others.
Results
Exposure to ECAT was not significantly associated with parent-reported depression or anxiety. However, exposure to ECAT at birth was associated with increased child-reported depression and anxiety. Each 0.25 µg/m3 increase in ECAT was associated with a 3.5 point increase (95% CI 1.6–5.5) in CDI-2 scores and 2.3 point increase (95% CI 0.8–3.9) in SCAS total anxiety scores. We observed similar associations between average childhood ECAT exposures but not for concurrent exposures at age 12.
Conclusions
TRAP exposure during early life and across childhood was significantly associated with self-reported depression and anxiety symptoms in children. The negative impact of air pollution on mental health previously reported among adults may also be present during childhood.

Published Jun 1, 2019

Yolton, K., Khoury, J. C., Burkle, J., LeMasters, G., Cecil, K., & Ryan, P. (2019). lifetime exposure to traffic-related air pollution and symptoms of depression and anxiety at age 12 years. Environmental Research, 173, 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENVRES.2019.03.005

Diesel emissions from school buses expose children to high levels of air pollution; retrofitting bus engines can substantially reduce this exposure. Using variation from 2656 retrofits across Georgia, we estimate effects of emissions reductions on district-level health and academic achievement. We demonstrate positive effects on respiratory health, measured by a statewide test of aerobic capacity. Placebo tests on body mass index show no impact. We also find that retrofitting districts experience significant test score gains in English and smaller gains in math. Our results suggest that engine retrofits can have meaningful and cost-effective impacts on health and cognitive functioning.

Published Jun 1, 2019

Austin, W., Heutel, G., & Kreisman, D. (2019). School bus emissions, student health and academic performance. Economics of Education Review, 70, 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ECONEDUREV.2019.03.002

Electric buses are poised to represent an increasingly larger share of the United States bus market due to the benefits of avoided air pollution, zero carbon emissions, and lower operation & maintenance costs. However, while total cost of ownership is approaching parity for electric buses versus diesel buses (and in some cases, even undercutting diesel), transit agencies and municipalities face the common problem of higher upfront capital expenditures required for electric buses versus traditional diesel-powered alternatives. This study examines the current mechanisms by which public transit agencies have procured electric buses to date as well as new, innovative financing models, with a focus on four states that have been highly active in this space: California, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington.

Published Apr 26, 2019

Liu, D., Mba ’19 Advisor, M. /, & Buley, J. (2019). The U.S. Electric Bus Transition: An Analysis of Funding and Financing Mechanisms. https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/18464/The U.S. Electric Bus Transition - An Analysis of Funding and Financing Mechanisms.pdf?sequence=1

Children living in lower-income urban communities are at much greater risk of developing asthma, going to the emergency department for an asthma attack and being hospitalized for asthma than children living in upper- and middle-income communities. For many asthmatic children living in urban communities, especially those with greater morbidity, the allergic pathway is important in the etiology of the disease. The stages of developing allergic disease can be divided into the onset of allergic sensitization, development of allergic disease and subsequent exacerbations, and it is useful to consider the relevance of interventions at each of these stages. Indoor allergens and environmental exposures are a major contributor to allergic disease, particularly among lower socioeconomic status, urban, minority communities. These exposures include allergens, environmental tobacco smoke, combustion by-products, and mold, all of which can play an important role in asthma progression as well as morbidity. These exposures are often not found in isolation and thus these concomitant exposures need to be considered when conducting environmental interventions. There have been numerous studies looking at both primary and tertiary prevention strategies and the impact on allergic sensitization and asthma with varied results. While the outcomes of these studies have been mixed, what has emerged is the need for tertiary interventions to be targeted to the individual and to reduce all relevant exposures to which an asthmatic child is exposed and sensitized. In addition, effective intervention strategies must also consider other social determinants of asthma morbidity impacting low socioeconomic, urban communities.

Published Mar 22, 2019

Conrad, L., & Perzanowski, M. S. (2019). The Role of Environmental Controls in Managing Asthma in Lower-Income Urban Communities. In Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology (Vol. 57, Issue 3, pp. 391–402). Humana Press Inc. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12016-019-08727-y

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution exposure is the largest environmental health risk factor in the United States. Here, we link PM2.5 exposure to the human activities responsible for PM2.5 pollution. We use these results to explore “pollution inequity”: the difference between the environmental health damage caused by a racial–ethnic group and the damage that group experiences. We show that, in the United States, PM2.5 exposure is disproportionately caused by consumption of goods and services mainly by the non-Hispanic white majority, but disproportionately inhaled by black and Hispanic minorities. On average, non-Hispanic whites experience a “pollution advantage”: They experience ∼17% less air pollution exposure than is caused by their consumption. Blacks and Hispanics on average bear a “pollution burden” of 56% and 63% excess exposure, respectively, relative to the exposure caused by their consumption. The total disparity is caused as much by how much people consume as by how much pollution they breathe. Differences in the types of goods and services consumed by each group are less important. PM2.5 exposures declined ∼50% during 2002–2015 for all three racial–ethnic groups, but pollution inequity has remained high.

Published Mar 11, 2019

Tessum, C. W., Apte, J. S., Goodkind, A. L., Muller, N. Z., Mullins, K. A., Paolella, D. A., . . . Hill, J. D. (2019). Inequity in consumption of goods and services adds to racial–ethnic disparities in air pollution exposure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(13), 6001-6006. doi:10.1073/pnas.1818859116

Air pollution is a worldwide environmental health issue. Increasingly, reports suggest that poor air quality may be associated with mental health problems, but these studies often use global measures and rarely focus on early development when psychopathology commonly emerges. To address this, we combined high-resolution air pollution exposure estimates and prospectively-collected phenotypic data to explore concurrent and longitudinal associations between air pollutants of major concern in urban areas and mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Exploratory analyses were conducted on 284 London-based children from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study. Exposure to annualized PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations was estimated at address-level when children were aged 12. Symptoms of anxiety, depression, conduct disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were assessed at ages 12 and 18. Psychiatric diagnoses were ascertained from interviews with the participants at age 18. We found no associations between age-12 pollution exposure and concurrent mental health problems. However, age-12 pollution estimates were significantly associated with increased odds of major depressive disorder at age 18, even after controlling for common risk factors. This study demonstrates the potential utility of incorporating high-resolution pollution estimates into large epidemiological cohorts to robustly investigate associations between air pollution and youth mental health.

Published Feb 1, 2019

Roberts, S., Arseneault, L., Barratt, B., Beevers, S., Danese, A., Odgers, C. L., Moffitt, T. E., Reuben, A., Kelly, F. J., & Fisher, H. L. (2019). Exploration of NO2 and PM2.5 air pollution and mental health problems using high-resolution data in London-based children from a UK longitudinal cohort study. Psychiatry Research, 272, 8. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2018.12.050