Source specific fine particles and rates of asthma and COPD healthcare encounters pre- and post-implementation of the Tier 3 vehicle emissions control regulations

Abstract

We examined associations between seven source-specific PM_2.5 concentrations and rates of asthma and COPD hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits in New York State and compared the changes in excess rates (ERs) between pre- (2014-2016) and post-implementation (2017-2019) of the Tier 3 automobile emission controls on new vehicles policy. A modified time-stratified case-crossover design and conditional logistic regression were employed to estimate the ERs of asthma and COPD hospitalizations and ED visits associated with interquartile range (IQR) increases in source-specific PM_2.5 concentrations. The seven PM_2.5 sources were spark-ignition emissions (GAS), diesel (DIE), biomass burning (BB), road dust (RD), secondary nitrate (SN), secondary sulfate (SS), and pyrolyzed organic rich (OP). Residual PM_2.5 (PM_2.5 – specific source [e.g., GAS]), daily temperature, relative humidity, weekday, and holidays were included in the model. IQR increases in GAS, SS, RD, BB, and SN were associated with increased ERs of asthma ED visits (highest ERs: 0.5%-3.1%), while a negative association was observed with DIE and OP. The rate of asthma hospitalizations was associated with increased RD concentrations (ERs: 1.3%-1.7%). Both COPD ED visit and hospitalization rates were associated with increased OP (ERs: 2.1%-3.4%), and increased SS was positively associated with COPD ED visits (ER = 3.8%). In summary, after Tier 3 implementation (2017-2019), we found lower ERs for COPD admissions associated with BB, RD, SN, and SS compared to 2014-2016. However, rates of asthma ED visits associated with source-specific PM_2.5 concentrations were generally higher for all sources, except DIE, post- versus pre-implementation, requiring further research for validation.