Air Pollution Effects on Ventilatory Function of US Schoolchildren

Shy, C. M.; Hasselblad, Victor; Burton, Robert M.; Nelson, C. J.; Cohen, A A

doi:10.1080/00039896.1973.10666339

Cited by 57 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…A special effort is being made to detect health effects resulting from long-term exposure to concentrations of pollutants prevailing in communities. In the last two decades many environmental surveys were carried out among children, who are not occupationally exposed and do not smoke, taking into account many other factors to which they are exposed and which may affect their respiratory system in the same way as air pollution (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of respiratory conditions among schoolchildren exposed to different levels of air pollutants in the Haifa Bay area, Israel.

Goren

Hellman²,

Brenner³

et al. 1990

Environ Health Perspect

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During spring 1984, 2334 second and 2000 fifth-grade schoolchildren living in three Haifa Bay areas on the eastern Mediterranean coast with different levels of air pollution were studied. The parents of these children filled out American Thoracic Society and National Heart and Lung Institute health questionnaires, and the children performed the following pulmonary function tests (PFT): FVC, FEV1, FEV,/FEV, PEF, FEF50, and FEF75. A trend of higher prevalence of most reported respiratory symptoms was found for schoolchildren growing up in the medium and high pollution areas as compared with the low pollution area. Part of the reported respiratory diseases were significantly more common among children from the high pollution area. Models fitted for the respiratory conditions that differed significantly among the three areas of residence also included background variables that could be responsible for these differences. Relative risk values, which were calculated from the logistic models, were in the range of 1.38 for sputum with cold and 1.81 for sputum without cold for children from the high pollution area as compared with 1.00 for children from the low pollution area. All the measured values of PFT were within the normal range. There was no consistent trend of reduced pulmonary function that characterized any residential area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of respiratory conditions among schoolchildren exposed to different levels of air pollutants in the Haifa Bay area, Israel.

Goren

Hellman²,

Brenner³

et al. 1990

Environ Health Perspect

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show abstract

“…Unfortunately, this method is easily biased by the use of geographical data and by the lack of important covariables (e.g., smoking) in the analyses. They also showed that the pollution variables were so highly correlated with one another that each had a similar relationship to mortality, and that the variability of the estimates were too great for good predictions (56). Even the use of this statistical method for this purpose has been questioned seriously (63).…”

Section: Examples and Illustrative Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies have shown that household/familial factors are not important in all cases (49)(50)(51). Likewise, geographical studies have shown positive relationships of adverse health effects with pollutant concentrations despite potential selective migration (38,44,46,(54)(55)(56). Thus, one should not overemphasize the relative importance of potential confounding or covarying factors when these have not been specifically ruled out as alternative explanations for specific results.…”

Section: Review Of Importance Of Major Covariablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilization of data from human population studies for setting air quality standards: evaluation of important issues.

Lebowitz¹

1983

Environ Health Perspect

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Epidemiological studies of community populations are highly relevant to the process of setting national ambient air quality primary standards, as criteria for those standards are the protection of human populations against adverse effects on health. Nevertheless, because of the difficulties of performing adequate community population studies of a quality commensurate with the needs of standard setting, the use of data derived from studies is problematic. This paper addresses the important issues of appropriate exposure assessment and health assessment, and discusses the problems of multiplex variables and colinearity as they are critical in assessments of exposure-effect relationships. It is concluded that a major problem in the use of data from such studies for standard setting is not necessarily one of scientific reliability or validity, but arises from the attempt of translating adequate science into policy decisions.A major stumbling block in the acceptance of data from human population studies for determining scientifically reasonable air quality standards is that conducting very good studies of this type is very difficult. Publications by Holland et al.(1) are representative of the doubts, disagreements and confusion associated with such studies. Furthermore, the question has become so politicized that Congressional committee reports, such as the Brown Committee report on the EPA Community (CHESS) studies (2) have major impacts on how one views the data from such studies. Nevertheless, the task of clarifying how such studies can be used is important and worth pursuing, as these data are the most pertinent for setting standards based on adverse effects on health in human populations.Several attempts have been made to establish criteria by which epidemiological studies can be evaluated (3-5), and several major reviews ment and opposition in the epidemiological community. What are the problems of such studies that have led to this potential impasse and how does one resolve these problems? These discussions represent the plan of this paper.Basically, there are three methodological problems: those related to the measures of exposure, the measures of effect, and the use of covariables and confounding variables. These are all important in the attempt to obtain estimates of exposure-response relationships. These problems will differ in geographical (spatial), temporal, and temporal-spatial studies. They will differ in studies of episodic and nonepisodic acute effects and chronic effects. They will differ in retrospective (that is, outcome-to-exposure) and prospective (that is exposure-to-outcome) studies.There is substantial agreement as to problems related to exposure measurements and their accuracy and relevance for individuals studied. Exposure to pollutants may not be sufficient or accurate in population studies. It is even possible that the correct pollutants are not even being measured. The number of studies needed to investigate interactions between pollutants increases rapidly with the number of pollutan...

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“…A consistent recommendation throughout the report is to understand the exposure and the outcome of interest before designing the study. The CHESS studies: A good example of an approach that ultimately failed is the experience of the Community Health and Environmental Surveillance System (CHESS), a series of large scale and very expensive epidemiological investigations conducted in the 1960s and early 1970s, and on which the primary ambient air quality standards adopted in the 1970 US Clean Air Act and its amendments were based or validated (51,(71)(72)(73)(74)(75). These studies are now widely regarded as inadequate and have had to be supplemented by considerably expensive additional work (54,67,76,77).…”

Section: Studies Of Air Quality and Human Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambient Air Quality and Human Health: Current Concepts, Part 2

Guidotti¹

1996

Canadian Respiratory Journal

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This second of two parts continues with the development of a framework for understanding air quality issues and their relationship to human health. Recognized health effects associated with air pollution are described and current controversies regarding ozone and PM10are briefly outlined. Epidemiological methods of investigating air quality effects are discussed, comparing recent landmark studies in Canada. Comparative prevalence studies do not reflect the state of the art in air pollution epidemiology but are frequently cited and conducted in Canada as if they were definitive. The implications of setting air quality standards and objectives on this basis or to meet arbitrary levels of risk of health effects are examined. The current state of the art does not support risk-based air quality standards. A policy of continuous improvement is most protective of both human health and the environment.

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Air Pollution Effects on Ventilatory Function of US Schoolchildren

Cited by 57 publications

References 2 publications

Prevalence of respiratory conditions among schoolchildren exposed to different levels of air pollutants in the Haifa Bay area, Israel.

Prevalence of respiratory conditions among schoolchildren exposed to different levels of air pollutants in the Haifa Bay area, Israel.

Utilization of data from human population studies for setting air quality standards: evaluation of important issues.

Ambient Air Quality and Human Health: Current Concepts, Part 2

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