Neighborhood Scale Health Impacts from PM2.5 in Four United States Metropolitan Areas

摘要

Background: Epidemiological cohort studies have found associations between long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and increased mortality as well as associations between short-term PM2.5 and asthma exacerbation. Findings from these studies have been used to quantify health impacts due to PM2.5 and other air pollutants in the US, but have primarily used county, state, or national level disease information. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate health impacts of PM2.5 at a finer spatial resolution than has previously been estimated (0.01×0.01-degree), utilizing tract level disease rates and satellite-derived exposure estimates in four major US metro areas: Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, DC. Methods: We estimated PM2.5-related asthma emergency room visits and cause specific mortality for stroke, lung cancer, and COPD using epidemiologically-derived health impact functions. Census tract level disease- and age-specific baseline incidence rates were derived using tract-level to city-level disease rate ratio scaling. Tract surveillance data and mortality rates were obtained through the CDC's 500 Cities Project and WONDER database, respectively. Relative risk estimates linking PM2.5 with health outcomes were drawn from a recent American Cancer Society study. The estimated health impacts were calculated using the environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program-Community Edition v1.3 (BenMAP-CE v1.3). High resolution (0.01×0.01-degree) PM2.5 concentrations are from a global dataset integrating satellite remote sensing with chemical transport modeling and in situ observations. Results: We show computed asthma emergency room visits and cause-specific mortality attributable to PM2.5 on 0.01×0.01-degree grid in four major US cities. PM2.5-attributable health impacts vary considerably between tracts within these metropolitan areas. Neighborhoods experiencing particularly large health impacts from PM2.5 exposure are highlighted.