Research Hub

This paper examines the effect of both cumulative and transitory exposures to air pollution for the same individuals over time on cognitive performance by matching a nationally representative longitudinal survey and air quality data in China according to the exact time and geographic locations of the cognitive tests. We find that long-term exposure to air pollution impedes cognitive performance in verbal and math tests. We provide evidence that the effect of air pollution on verbal tests becomes more pronounced as people age, especially for men and the less educated. The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions.

Published Aug 27, 2018

Zhang, X., Chen, X., & Zhang, X. (2018). The impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(37), 9193–9197. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1809474115

publication in the Federal Register. NHTSA and EPA have taken steps to ensure the accuracy of this Internet version of the Final Rule. However, once available, please refer to the official version of the forthcoming Federal Register publication, which will appear on the Government Printing Office's FDSys website (www.federalregister.gov) and on Regulations.gov (https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NHTSA-2018-0067 and https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EPA=HQ-OAR-2018-0283). Once the official version of this document is published in the Federal Register, this version will be removed from the Internet and replaced with a link to the official version.

Published Aug 24, 2018

David L. Greene, P. (2018). An Analysis of Deficiencies in the Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021–2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks, 83 Fed. Reg. 42,986. https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2018-10/10-21-2018_Greene_UTenn-Consumer_Behavior_Modeling.pdf

In this paper, we investigate the relationships between dwelling conditions and pediatric asthma prevalence, merging multiple data sources to unpack disproportionate pediatric asthma prevalence in Memphis, TN, USA. Using 32 097 pediatric asthma encounter data from a children's hospital, we map the patient distributions in Memphis. Connecting these data with 244 000 property quality data and census data, we show that pediatric asthma is disproportionately prevalent in the bad quality neighborhoods, even after controlling for ethnicity and poverty level. Furthermore, we show that the neighborhood inequality has a more negative effect than the overall neighborhood degeneration. Our novel data integration provides a unique opportunity to directly test the relationship between residential qualities and asthma prevalences at the macro-level, and to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first study that investigates the association between the detailed property quality and pediatric asthma with a relatively large sample size. Moreover, directly connecting health outcomes with the detailed housing quality data enables us to unpack how the inequality in living conditions yields disproportionate public health outcome distributions. To further improve public health decision making, the health issue should be approached with a more holistic view with taking into account environmental, residential, and social conditions. Integrating multiple data sources helps us not only discover the hidden links between quality of housing and childhood asthma in an urban community but also provide more efficient health surveillance guidelines to identify the population at risk. We show that neighborhood blight and inequality are closely associated with childhood asthma and other consecutive health problems, and therefore, any effective health intervention should also consider consolidation of housing policies and procedures. In addition, the detailed neighborhood level data helps us to reveal the pathways of social inequalities to health disparities and improve the public health through a properly designed surveillance system.

Published Aug 20, 2018

Shin, E. K., & Shaban-Nejad, A. (2018). Urban Decay and Pediatric Asthma Prevalence in Memphis, Tennessee: Urban Data Integration for Efficient Population Health Surveillance. IEEE Access, 6, 46281–46289. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2866069

Overview of propossed emissions guidelines for 2019 by the EPA. Surveys development, background, policy, cost, climate benefits, and energy impacts

Published Aug 1, 2018

US EPA Integrated Risk Information System Division. (2018). Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Proposed Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Existing Electric Utility Generating Units; Revisions to Emission Guideline Implementing Regulations; Revisions to New Source Review Program. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-08/documents/utilities_ria_proposed_ace_2018-08.pdf

Coal and oil power plant retirements reduce air pollution nearby, but few studies have leveraged these natural experiments for public health research. We used California Department of Public Health birth records and US Energy Information Administration data from 2001–2011 to evaluate the relationship between the retirements of 8 coal and oil power plants and nearby preterm (gestational age of <37 weeks) birth. We conducted a difference-in-differences analysis using adjusted linear mixed models that included 57,005 births—6.3% of which were preterm—to compare the probability of preterm birth before and after power plant retirement among mothers residing within 0–5 km and 5–10 km of the 8 power plants. We found that power plant retirements were associated with a decrease in the proportion of preterm birth within 5 km (−0.019, 95% CI: −0.031, −0.008) and 5–10 km (−0.015, 95% CI: −0.024, −0.007), controlling for secular trends with mothers living 10–20 km away. For the 0–5-km area, this corresponds to a reduction in preterm birth from 7.0% to 5.1%. Subgroup analyses indicated a potentially larger association among non-Hispanic black and Asian mothers than among non-Hispanic white and Hispanic mothers and no differences in educational attainment. Future coal and oil power plant retirements may reduce preterm birth among nearby populations.

Published Aug 1, 2018

Casey, J. A., Karasek, D., Ogburn, E. L., Goin, D. E., Dang, K., Braveman, P. A., & Morello-Frosch, R. (2018). Retirements of Coal and Oil Power Plants in California: Association With Reduced Preterm Birth Among Populations Nearby. American Journal of Epidemiology, 187(8), 1586–1594. https://doi.org/10.1093/AJE/KWY110

Human exposure to elevated air pollution has many negative health outcomes. Communicating elevated air pollution concentrations with an air quality (health) index is one an approach to reduce population exposure. The indices translate a cocktail of air pollutants to a single value that can be understood by the general public. People can use the index to avoid activities that will elevate their exposure. Most indices report the health risk for an entire city or large area as a single value. Research into air pollution spatial variability shows that major variations can occur within cities and neighborhoods, so air quality index information, while valuable, may mislead citizens when they estimate their own risk. This chapter describes the development of a neighborhood level, real time, internet enabled air pollution map that can be used by citizens to become aware of their localized air quality health risks and then take appropriate actions.

Published Jun 29, 2018

Adams, M., Corr, D., & Requia, W. (2018). Mapping air pollution health risk: An application of Canada’s AQHI. In The Practice of Spatial Analysis: Essays in memory of Professor Pavlos Kanaroglou (pp. 359–372). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89806-3_17

Rationale: Whereas associations between air pollution and respiratory morbidity for adults 65 years and older are well documented in the United States, the evidence for people under 65 is less extensive. To address this gap, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program collected respiratory emergency department (ED) data from 17 states. Objectives: To estimate age-specific acute effects of ozone and fine particulate matter (particulate matter ≤2.5 mm in aerodynamic diameter [PM 2.5 ]) on respiratory ED visits. Methods: We conducted time-series analyses in 894 counties by linking daily respiratory ED visits with estimated ozone and PM 2.5 concentrations during the week before the date of the visit. Overall effect estimates were obtained with a Bayesian hierarchical model to combine county estimates for each pollutant by age group (children, 0-18; adults, 19-64; adults≥65, and all ages) and by outcome group (acute respiratory infection, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, and all respiratory ED visits). Measurements and Main Results: Rate ratios (95% credible interval) per 10-μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5 and all respiratory ED visits were 1.024 (1.018-1.029) among children, 1.008 (1.004-1.012) among adults younger than 65 years, and 1.002 (0.996-1.007) among adults 65 and older. Per 20-ppb increase in ozone, rate ratios were 1.017 (1.011-1.023) among children, 1.051 (1.046-1.056) among adults younger than 65, and 1.033 (1.026-1.040) among adults 65 and older. Associations variedinmagnitude by age group for eachoutcome group. Conclusions: These results address a gap in the evidence used to ensure adequate public health protection under national air pollution policies.

Published Jun 22, 2018

Strosnider, H. M., Chang, H. H., Darrow, L. A., Liu, Y., Vaidyanathan, A., & Strickland, M. J. (2019). Age-Specific Associations of Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter with Respiratory Emergency Department Visits in the United States. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 199(7), 882–890. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201806-1147OC

Air pollution generated in urban areas is a global public health burden since half of the world's population live in either cities, megacities or periurban areas. Its direct effects include initiating and exacerbating disease, with indirect effects on health mediated via climate change putting the basic needs of water, air and food at risk.

Published May 24, 2018

Liu, N. M., & Grigg, J. (2018). Diesel, children and respiratory disease. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2017-000210

Using detailed education data between 1996-2012 from the state of Florida, we examine whether pollution from local Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) sites affects student achievement and high stakes accountability school rankings. Using event study and difference-indifferences designs, we compare students attending schools within one mile of a TRI site that opens or closes to students attending schools between one and two miles away. We find that being exposed to air pollution is associated with 0.024 of standard deviation lower test scores, increased likelihood of suspension from school, and increased likelihood that a school's overall high stakes accountability ranking will drop.

Published May 20, 2018

Persico, C., & Venator, J. (2018). The Effects of Local Industrial Pollution on Students and Schools. http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2019/08/02/jhr.56.2.0518-9511R2.abstract

Outlining the characteristics of “wicked” and “super-wicked” problems, climate change is considered as a global super-wicked problem that is primarily about the future. Being global- and future-oriented makes climate change something we have to learn to live with but cannot expect to solve. Because the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) is a multidisciplinary society that yokes the natural and social sciences with values, it is in a position to explore strategies for living with climate change—exemplified by the articles in this section. Finally, asking “who/what is in charge,” it is suggested that in a dynamically interrelated and evolving world no one is. It is important to distinguish between good that is already created and the creative interactions that give rise to new good. In order to live with climate change, our primary orientation should be to live with the creativity that has created and continues to create our life on Planet Earth—since we are not able to know what the future holds.

Published May 15, 2018

Peters, K. E. (2018). Living With the Wicked Problem of Climate Change. Zygon, 53(2), 427–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12400