Work

Google Street View car measurements of traffic related air pollution within neighborhoods and asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: PDS 64: Health impact assessment and environmental justice, Johan Friso Foyer, Floor 1, August 26, 2019, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Background: New technologies can measure traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) at an unprecedented spatial resolution, but little is known about how these street-level spatial differences in TRAP relate to clinical health outcomes such as asthma exacerbations. Objective: We estimated the relationship between highly resolved spatial measurements of TRAP and asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations among children, adults, and elderly subjects with asthma. Methods: Our study population included 9,802 children, 33,869 adults, and 5,239 elderly subjects with asthma who were members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California during 2013 to 2017. Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide [NO2], nitric oxide [NO], black carbon [BC] and ultrafine particles [UFPs] were along 30 m road segments in neighborhoods of Northern California and linked to geocoded residential addresses. Records of ED visits and inpatient hospitalizations with an asthma diagnosis as a reason for visit were obtained from electronic medical records. We fit Poisson models to estimate the relationship between TRAP exposures and rates of asthma-related ED visits and hospitalizations, adjusting for age, sex, race, and neighborhood socioeconomic status. Results: Among children with asthma, a 1 SD increase in NO2 was associated with a 5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0% to 10%) increase in the rate of ED visits and a 15% (95% CI 1% to 32%) increase in the rate of hospitalizations. Associations with NO, UFPs, BC were similar, but generally weaker. Associations among adults and elderly subjects were similar. Conclusion: Street-level spatial differences in TRAP exposures, particularly to NO2, are associated with differences in the rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among children, adults, and elderly with asthma.

Source: Environmental Epidemiology

DOI: 10.1097/01.ee9.0000610548.13561.58