Effects of Instrument Precision and Spatial Variability on the Assessment of the Temporal Variation of Ambient Air Pollution in Atlanta, Georgia

Wade, Katherine S.; Mulholland, James A.; Marmur, Amit; Russell, Armistead G.; Hartsell, Benjamin E.; Edgerton, Eric S.; Klein, Mitch; Waller, Lance A.; Peel, Jennifer L.; Tolbert, Paige E.

doi:10.1080/10473289.2006.10464499

Cited by 45 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This site was the location of the former Atlanta Supersite, 19 and data from this location are being used in ongoing health effects studies. Based on the spatial variability analysis of air pollutants at several sites in Atlanta, Jefferson Street was found as representative as any other site in Atlanta for both primary 20 and secondary pollutants. 21 …”

Section: ϫ3mentioning

confidence: 95%

Source Apportionment of Daily Fine Particulate Matter at Jefferson Street, Atlanta, GA, during Summer and Winter

Zheng

Cass

Lin

et al. 2007

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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The primary emission source contributions to fine organic carbon (OC) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) mass concentrations on a daily basis in Atlanta, GA, are quantified for a summer (July 3 to August 4, 2001) and a winter (January 2-31, 2002) month. Thirty-one organic compounds in PM 2.5 were identified and quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. These organic tracers, along with elemental carbon, aluminum, and silicon, were used in a chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor model. CMB source apportionment results revealed that major contributors to identified fine OC concentrations include meat cooking (7-68%; average: 36%), gasoline exhaust (7-45%; average: 21%), and diesel exhaust (6 -41%; average: 20%) for the summer month, and wood combustion (0 -77%; average: 50%); gasoline exhaust (14 -69%; average: 33%), meat cooking (1-14%; average: 5%), and diesel exhaust (0 -13%; average: 4%) for the winter month. Primary sources, as well as secondary ions, including sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium, accounted for 86 Ϯ 13% and 112 Ϯ 15% of the measured PM 2.5 mass in summer and winter, respectively.

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Section: ϫ3mentioning

confidence: 95%

Source Apportionment of Daily Fine Particulate Matter at Jefferson Street, Atlanta, GA, during Summer and Winter

Zheng

Cass

Lin

et al. 2007

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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“…One prominent component of error in our study is, therefore, how well the population-weighted spatial average of measurements from urban monitoring stations approximates the ambient concentration across the entire metropolitan Atlanta area. The extent of this measurement error likely varies by pollutant, with primary pollutants (e.g., those from traffic sources) tending to have more measurement error than secondary pollutants (e.g., ozone and PM 2.5 sulfate) (18,53). Indeed, in previous work, we observed associations between emergency department visits for cardiovascular disease and spatially heterogeneous pollutants (carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide) using measurements from several different air pollution monitors located within 20 miles of the Atlanta population center; however, we did not observe associations when measurements were used from a rural monitor located 38 miles away.…”

Section: Table 4 Sensitivity Analyses: Rate Ratios and 95% Confidencmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term Associations between Ambient Air Pollutants and Pediatric Asthma Emergency Department Visits

Strickland¹,

Darrow²,

Klein³

et al. 2010

Am J Respir Crit Care Med

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322

231

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Rationale: Certain outdoor air pollutants cause asthma exacerbations in children. To advance understanding of these relationships, further characterization of the dose-response and pollutant lag effects are needed, as are investigations of pollutant species beyond the commonly measured criteria pollutants. Objectives: Investigate short-term associations between ambient air pollutant concentrations and emergency department visits for pediatric asthma. Methods: Daily counts of emergency department visits for asthma or wheeze among children aged 5 to 17 years were collected from 41 Metropolitan Atlanta hospitals during 1993-2004 (n 5 91,386 visits). Ambient concentrations of gaseous pollutants and speciated particulate matter were available from stationary monitors during this time period. Rate ratios for the warm season (May to October) and cold season (November to April) were estimated using Poisson generalized linear models in the framework of a case-crossover analysis. Measurements and Main Results: Both ozone and primary pollutants from traffic sources were associated with emergency department visits for asthma or wheeze; evidence for independent effects of ozone and primary pollutants from traffic sources were observed in multipollutant models. These associations tended to be of the highest magnitude for concentrations on the day of the emergency department visit and were present at relatively low ambient concentrations. Conclusions: Even at relatively low ambient concentrations, ozone and primary pollutants from traffic sources independently contributed to the burden of emergency department visits for pediatric asthma.Keywords: ambient particulate matter; asthma; minors; ozone A broad literature supports associations between ambient air pollutant concentrations and asthma exacerbations (1-3). Children are thought to be particularly susceptible to ambient air pollutants, because their lungs and immune systems are not fully developed, they breathe more air per unit body weight and are typically more active than adults, and their peripheral airways are anatomically smaller than adults so that inflammation results in proportionally greater airway obstruction (4-6). To help advance understanding of the relationships between ambient air pollutant concentrations and asthma exacerbations in children, further characterization of the dose-response and pollutant lag effects are needed, as are investigations of pollutant species beyond the commonly measured urban air pollutants (3, 7). Further investigation of pollutant mixtures and effect modification may also provide insights (8, 9); for example, there have been reports of stronger pollution effects during the warm season (10-15) even though pediatric asthma rates peak during the cold season (16). To lessen concerns about uncontrolled confounding, aggressive control for variables, such as meteorology and seasonal asthma trends, is required.In the present study, we analyzed data from the Study of Particles and Health in Atlanta (SOPHIA) (14,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21), one of...

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“…Subjects from Steubenville lived in closer proximity to the ambient monitoring site compared to the other locations. For a pollutant like NO 2 with relatively high spatial heterogeneity (Wade et al, 2006), it is likely that the clustering of the subjects around the central site led to stronger observed personal-ambient associations relative to the other locations. Unlike SO 2 , exposure to NO 2 may have substantial nonambient sources, specifically from indoor gas appliances.…”

Section: Observed Associations Between Ambient Concentrations and Permentioning

confidence: 99%

Panel discussion review: session 1 — exposure assessment and related errors in air pollution epidemiologic studies

Sarnat

Wilson

Strand

et al. 2007

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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Examining the validity of exposure metrics used in air pollution epidemiologic models has been a key focus of recent exposure assessment studies. The objective of this work has been, largely, to determine what a given exposure metric represents and to quantify and reduce any potential errors resulting from using these metrics in lieu of true exposure measurements. The current manuscript summarizes the presentations of the co-authors from a recent EPA workshop, held in December 2006, dealing with the role and contributions of exposure assessment in addressing these issues. Results are presented from US and Canadian exposure and pollutant measurement studies as well as theoretical simulations to investigate what both particulate and gaseous pollutant concentrations represent and the potential errors resulting from their use in air pollution epidemiologic studies. Quantifying the association between ambient pollutant concentrations and corresponding personal exposures has led to the concept of defining attenuation factors, or a. Specifically, characterizing pollutant-specific estimates for a was shown to be useful in developing regression calibration methods involving PM epidemiologic risk estimates. For some gaseous pollutants such as NO 2 and SO 2 , the associations between ambient concentrations and personal exposures were shown to be complex and still poorly understood. Results from recent panel studies suggest that ambient NO 2 measurements may, in some locations, be serving as surrogates to traffic pollutants, including traffic-related PM 2.5 , hopanes, steranes, and oxidized nitrogen compounds (rather than NO 2 ).

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Effects of Instrument Precision and Spatial Variability on the Assessment of the Temporal Variation of Ambient Air Pollution in Atlanta, Georgia

Cited by 45 publications

References 32 publications

Source Apportionment of Daily Fine Particulate Matter at Jefferson Street, Atlanta, GA, during Summer and Winter

Source Apportionment of Daily Fine Particulate Matter at Jefferson Street, Atlanta, GA, during Summer and Winter

Short-term Associations between Ambient Air Pollutants and Pediatric Asthma Emergency Department Visits

Panel discussion review: session 1 — exposure assessment and related errors in air pollution epidemiologic studies

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