Pub Date : 2022-09-18DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ac9b7e
A. Rau, A. Abadi, M. Fiecas, Yeong-Rip Gwon, Jesse E Bell, J. Berman
High air pollution events spanning multiple months and caused by environmental perturbations such as droughts and wildfires are increasing in frequency, intensity and duration due to climate change. While both daily and annual exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) have regulatory standards in the United States, mid-scale exposure at the monthly interval remains unregulated and the public health impacts of mid-duration ambient air pollution exposure are poorly understood. These present a new public health challenge in mitigating harmful effects of persistent ambient air pollution on community health. We executed an ecological study of the associations between monthly mean PM2.5 exposure with total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality counts, stratified by age, sex and race, in 698 counties in the conterminous United States from 1999 to 2018. A two-stage model was used to estimate the risk and number of deaths associated with this exposure timescale reported as incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and absolute risk differences per million persons (ARDs). Increased mortality of all types was positively associated with a 10 μg m−3 monthly change in PM2.5 exposure (total mortality IRR: 1.011, 95% confidence interval (CI): (1.009, 1.013), ARD: 8.558, 95% CI: (6.869, 10.247); cardiovascular mortality IRR: 1.014, 95% CI: (1.011, 1.018), ARD: 3.716, 95% CI: (2.924, 4.509); respiratory mortality IRR: 1.016, 95% CI: (1.011, 1.023), ARD: 1.676, 95% CI: (1.261, 2.091)). Our results suggest elderly, non-black minorities and males to be the most impacted subgroups along with metropolitan and highly socially vulnerable communities. Heterogeneities in the magnitude and direction of association were also detected across climate regions of the United States. These results elucidate potential effects of monthly PM2.5 on mortality and demonstrate a need for future health policies for this currently unregulated interval of ambient air pollution exposure.
{"title":"Nationwide assessment of ambient monthly fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and the associations with total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality in the United States","authors":"A. Rau, A. Abadi, M. Fiecas, Yeong-Rip Gwon, Jesse E Bell, J. Berman","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ac9b7e","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ac9b7e","url":null,"abstract":"High air pollution events spanning multiple months and caused by environmental perturbations such as droughts and wildfires are increasing in frequency, intensity and duration due to climate change. While both daily and annual exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) have regulatory standards in the United States, mid-scale exposure at the monthly interval remains unregulated and the public health impacts of mid-duration ambient air pollution exposure are poorly understood. These present a new public health challenge in mitigating harmful effects of persistent ambient air pollution on community health. We executed an ecological study of the associations between monthly mean PM2.5 exposure with total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality counts, stratified by age, sex and race, in 698 counties in the conterminous United States from 1999 to 2018. A two-stage model was used to estimate the risk and number of deaths associated with this exposure timescale reported as incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and absolute risk differences per million persons (ARDs). Increased mortality of all types was positively associated with a 10 μg m−3 monthly change in PM2.5 exposure (total mortality IRR: 1.011, 95% confidence interval (CI): (1.009, 1.013), ARD: 8.558, 95% CI: (6.869, 10.247); cardiovascular mortality IRR: 1.014, 95% CI: (1.011, 1.018), ARD: 3.716, 95% CI: (2.924, 4.509); respiratory mortality IRR: 1.016, 95% CI: (1.011, 1.023), ARD: 1.676, 95% CI: (1.261, 2.091)). Our results suggest elderly, non-black minorities and males to be the most impacted subgroups along with metropolitan and highly socially vulnerable communities. Heterogeneities in the magnitude and direction of association were also detected across climate regions of the United States. These results elucidate potential effects of monthly PM2.5 on mortality and demonstrate a need for future health policies for this currently unregulated interval of ambient air pollution exposure.","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45434656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-18DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ac8ac2
Arun Pallathadka, Heejun Chang, Daikwon Han
While COVID-19 vaccines have been available since December 2020 and efforts have been made to vaccinate the maximum population, a large number of people are continuing to be hesitant, prolonging the pandemic in the US. While most previous studies investigated social, economic, and demographic variables that are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, we added ecological and technological variables to better understand the spatial variations of vaccine rates in the contiguous United States using spatial regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. We aim to identify spatially varying social, ecological, and technological factors that are associated with COVID-19 vaccination rates, which can aid in identifying and strengthening the public health system and vaccination programs that can eventually facilitate and overcome vaccination hesitancy. We found six statistically significant predictors; two predictors, % Republican voters (r = 0.507, p < .001) and % Black population (r = −0.360, p < .001) were negatively correlated with the vaccination rates, whereas four remaining predictors, % Population with college degree (r = 0.229, p < 001), NRI Score (r = 0.131, p < .001), % Population with broadband access (r = 0.020, p < 001), and Health facilities per 10 000 population (r = 0.424, p < 001) were positively correlated with the vaccination rates at the county level. GWR results show spatially varying relationships between vaccination rate and explanatory variables, indicating the need for regional-specific public health policy. To achieve widespread vaccination, addressing social, ecological, and technological factors will be essential. We draw particular attention to the spatial variances even among positively and negatively associated factors. This research also calls for a reexamination of existing practices, including vaccination communication and other public health policies, local and national public health organizations, telecommunications agents, and mobilization of resources by the public and private sectors.
虽然自2020年12月以来已经有了COVID-19疫苗,并且已经努力为最大限度的人口接种疫苗,但许多人仍然犹豫不决,延长了美国的大流行。虽然之前的大多数研究调查了与COVID-19疫苗犹豫相关的社会、经济和人口变量,但我们添加了生态和技术变量,以便使用空间回归和地理加权回归(GWR)模型更好地了解美国邻近地区疫苗接种率的空间变化。我们的目标是确定与COVID-19疫苗接种率相关的空间差异的社会、生态和技术因素,这有助于确定和加强公共卫生系统和疫苗接种计划,最终促进和克服疫苗接种犹豫不决。我们发现了六个统计上显著的预测因子;两个预测因子,%共和党选民(r = 0.507, p <措施)和%黑人(r =−0.360,p <措施)负相关疫苗接种率,剩余四个预测因子,而%人口与大学学位(r = 0.229, p < 001),新名词评分(r = 0.131, p <措施),%的人口与宽带接入(r = 0.020, p < 001),每000人口和卫生设施(r = 0.424, p < 001)呈正相关疫苗接种率县级。GWR结果显示疫苗接种率与解释变量之间的关系存在空间差异,表明有必要制定针对特定区域的公共卫生政策。为了实现广泛的疫苗接种,解决社会、生态和技术因素将是必不可少的。我们特别注意空间差异,甚至在积极和消极相关的因素。这项研究还要求重新审查现有做法,包括疫苗接种宣传和其他公共卫生政策、地方和国家公共卫生组织、电信代理以及公共和私营部门调动资源。
{"title":"What explains spatial variations of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy?: a social-ecological-technological systems approach","authors":"Arun Pallathadka, Heejun Chang, Daikwon Han","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ac8ac2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ac8ac2","url":null,"abstract":"While COVID-19 vaccines have been available since December 2020 and efforts have been made to vaccinate the maximum population, a large number of people are continuing to be hesitant, prolonging the pandemic in the US. While most previous studies investigated social, economic, and demographic variables that are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, we added ecological and technological variables to better understand the spatial variations of vaccine rates in the contiguous United States using spatial regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. We aim to identify spatially varying social, ecological, and technological factors that are associated with COVID-19 vaccination rates, which can aid in identifying and strengthening the public health system and vaccination programs that can eventually facilitate and overcome vaccination hesitancy. We found six statistically significant predictors; two predictors, % Republican voters (r = 0.507, p < .001) and % Black population (r = −0.360, p < .001) were negatively correlated with the vaccination rates, whereas four remaining predictors, % Population with college degree (r = 0.229, p < 001), NRI Score (r = 0.131, p < .001), % Population with broadband access (r = 0.020, p < 001), and Health facilities per 10 000 population (r = 0.424, p < 001) were positively correlated with the vaccination rates at the county level. GWR results show spatially varying relationships between vaccination rate and explanatory variables, indicating the need for regional-specific public health policy. To achieve widespread vaccination, addressing social, ecological, and technological factors will be essential. We draw particular attention to the spatial variances even among positively and negatively associated factors. This research also calls for a reexamination of existing practices, including vaccination communication and other public health policies, local and national public health organizations, telecommunications agents, and mobilization of resources by the public and private sectors.","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44436750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-30DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ac7d69
K. O’Dell, B. Ford, J. Burkhardt, S. Magzamen, S. Anenberg, J. Bayham, E. Fischer, J. Pierce
Previous research on the health and air quality impacts of wildfire smoke has largely focused on the impact of smoke on outdoor air quality; however, many people spend a majority of their time indoors. The quality of indoor air on smoke-impacted days is largely unknown. In this analysis, we use publicly available data from an existing large network of low-cost indoor and outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5) monitors to quantify the relationship between indoor and outdoor particulate air quality on smoke-impacted days in 2020 across the western United States (US). We also investigate possible regional and socioeconomic trends in this relationship for regions surrounding six major cities in the western US. We find indoor PM2.5 concentrations are 82% or 4.2 µg m−3 (median across all western US indoor monitors for the year 2020; interquartile range, IQR: 2.0–7.2 µg m−3) higher on smoke-impacted days compared to smoke-free days. Indoor/outdoor PM2.5 ratios show variability by region, particularly on smoke-free days. However, we find the ratio of indoor/outdoor PM2.5 is less than 1 (i.e. indoor concentrations lower than outdoor) at nearly all indoor-outdoor monitor pairs on smoke-impacted days. Although typically lower than outdoor concentrations on smoke-impacted days, we find that on heavily smoke-impacted days (outdoor PM2.5 > 55 µg m−3), indoor PM2.5 concentrations can exceed the 35 µg m−3 24 h outdoor standard set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Further, total daily-mean indoor PM2.5 concentrations increase by 2.1 µg m−3 with every 10 µg m−3 increase in daily-mean outdoor PM2.5. (median of statistically significant linear regression slopes across all western US monitor pairs; IQR: 1.0–4.3 µg m−3) on smoke-impacted days. These results show that for indoor environments in the western US included in our analysis, remaining indoors during smoke events is currently an effective, but limited, strategy to reduce PM2.5 exposure.
{"title":"Outside in: the relationship between indoor and outdoor particulate air quality during wildfire smoke events in western US cities","authors":"K. O’Dell, B. Ford, J. Burkhardt, S. Magzamen, S. Anenberg, J. Bayham, E. Fischer, J. Pierce","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ac7d69","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ac7d69","url":null,"abstract":"Previous research on the health and air quality impacts of wildfire smoke has largely focused on the impact of smoke on outdoor air quality; however, many people spend a majority of their time indoors. The quality of indoor air on smoke-impacted days is largely unknown. In this analysis, we use publicly available data from an existing large network of low-cost indoor and outdoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5) monitors to quantify the relationship between indoor and outdoor particulate air quality on smoke-impacted days in 2020 across the western United States (US). We also investigate possible regional and socioeconomic trends in this relationship for regions surrounding six major cities in the western US. We find indoor PM2.5 concentrations are 82% or 4.2 µg m−3 (median across all western US indoor monitors for the year 2020; interquartile range, IQR: 2.0–7.2 µg m−3) higher on smoke-impacted days compared to smoke-free days. Indoor/outdoor PM2.5 ratios show variability by region, particularly on smoke-free days. However, we find the ratio of indoor/outdoor PM2.5 is less than 1 (i.e. indoor concentrations lower than outdoor) at nearly all indoor-outdoor monitor pairs on smoke-impacted days. Although typically lower than outdoor concentrations on smoke-impacted days, we find that on heavily smoke-impacted days (outdoor PM2.5 > 55 µg m−3), indoor PM2.5 concentrations can exceed the 35 µg m−3 24 h outdoor standard set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Further, total daily-mean indoor PM2.5 concentrations increase by 2.1 µg m−3 with every 10 µg m−3 increase in daily-mean outdoor PM2.5. (median of statistically significant linear regression slopes across all western US monitor pairs; IQR: 1.0–4.3 µg m−3) on smoke-impacted days. These results show that for indoor environments in the western US included in our analysis, remaining indoors during smoke events is currently an effective, but limited, strategy to reduce PM2.5 exposure.","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43909130","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-04-05DOI: 10.1088/2752-5309/ac6439
Eun-hye Yoo, John E. Roberts, Youngseob Eum, Xiaojiang Li, Lingzhi Chu, Pin Wang, Kai Chen
There is growing evidence suggesting that exposure to air pollutants is associated with mental disorders. We investigated the impact of short-term exposures to both fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) assessed at fine spatiotemporal resolutions on emergency room (ER) visits related to mental disorders using 475 755 records from New York City between 2010 and 2016. We assessed the short-term impact of daily air pollution exposure on ER visits using a case-crossover design with conditional logistic regression. We further tested whether the impact of PM2.5 and O3 varied by individuals’ age, sex, and race/ethnicity, and if associations were modified by the degree of visibility of greenspace at individuals’ residences. Results suggested that the relative risk of visiting an ER for mental-disorders increased by 2.78% (95% CI: 1.82%–3.76%) with a 10 μgm−3 increase in ambient PM2.5 concentration over a 4 day (d) moving average (lag 0–3 d) and increased by 0.71% (95% CI: 0.28%–1.15%) with a 10 ppb increase in O3 concentration on a single day lag (lag 1 d), and that these effects were modified by age and race/ethnicity, but not by sex or surrounding greenery. Specifically, we found that age group 19–35 years old and non-Whites were more susceptible to the effects of ambient air pollution exposure. In terms of specific disorders, we found that both PM2.5 and O3 have an effect on ER visits for psychotic disorders, but not dementia. Our findings suggest that short-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with increased ER visits for mental disorders. Further research is needed to determine the underlying mechanisms by which exposure to PM2.5 and O3 is linked to these ER visits.
{"title":"Short-term exposure to air pollution and mental disorders: a case-crossover study in New York City","authors":"Eun-hye Yoo, John E. Roberts, Youngseob Eum, Xiaojiang Li, Lingzhi Chu, Pin Wang, Kai Chen","doi":"10.1088/2752-5309/ac6439","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ac6439","url":null,"abstract":"There is growing evidence suggesting that exposure to air pollutants is associated with mental disorders. We investigated the impact of short-term exposures to both fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) assessed at fine spatiotemporal resolutions on emergency room (ER) visits related to mental disorders using 475 755 records from New York City between 2010 and 2016. We assessed the short-term impact of daily air pollution exposure on ER visits using a case-crossover design with conditional logistic regression. We further tested whether the impact of PM2.5 and O3 varied by individuals’ age, sex, and race/ethnicity, and if associations were modified by the degree of visibility of greenspace at individuals’ residences. Results suggested that the relative risk of visiting an ER for mental-disorders increased by 2.78% (95% CI: 1.82%–3.76%) with a 10 μgm−3 increase in ambient PM2.5 concentration over a 4 day (d) moving average (lag 0–3 d) and increased by 0.71% (95% CI: 0.28%–1.15%) with a 10 ppb increase in O3 concentration on a single day lag (lag 1 d), and that these effects were modified by age and race/ethnicity, but not by sex or surrounding greenery. Specifically, we found that age group 19–35 years old and non-Whites were more susceptible to the effects of ambient air pollution exposure. In terms of specific disorders, we found that both PM2.5 and O3 have an effect on ER visits for psychotic disorders, but not dementia. Our findings suggest that short-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with increased ER visits for mental disorders. Further research is needed to determine the underlying mechanisms by which exposure to PM2.5 and O3 is linked to these ER visits.","PeriodicalId":72938,"journal":{"name":"Environmental research, health : ERH","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47519739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}