Environmental Epidemiology最新文献

{"title":"Prenatal organophosphate ester exposure and executive function in Norwegian preschoolers.","authors":"Amber M Hall, Alexander P Keil, Giehae Choi, Amanda M Ramos, David B Richardson, Andrew F Olshan, Chantel L Martin, Gro D Villanger, Ted Reichborn-Kjennerud, Pål Zeiner, Kristin R Øvergaard, Amrit K Sakhi, Cathrine Thomsen, Heidi Aase, Stephanie M Engel","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000251","DOIUrl":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000251","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are ubiquitous chemicals, used as flame retardants and plasticizers. OPE usage has increased over time as a substitute for other controlled compounds. This study investigates the impact of prenatal OPE exposure on executive function (EF) in preschoolers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We selected 340 preschoolers from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study. Diphenyl-phosphate (DPhP), di-n-butyl-phosphate (DnBP), bis(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (BBOEP), and bis(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (BDCIPP) were measured in maternal urine. EF was measured using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning-Preschool (BRIEF-P) and the Stanford-Binet fifth edition (SB-5). EF scores were scaled so a higher score indicated worse performance. We estimated exposure-outcome associations and evaluated modification by child sex using linear regression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Higher DnBP was associated with lower EF scores across multiple rater-based domains. Higher DPhP and BDCIPP were associated with lower SB-5 verbal working memory (β = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.12, 0.87; β = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.08, 1.02), and higher BBOEP was associated with lower teacher-rated inhibition (β = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.63). DPhP was associated with lower parent-reported BRIEF-P measures in boys but not girls [inhibition: boys: 0.37 (95% CI = 0.03, 0.93); girls: -0.48 (95% CI = -1.27, 0.19); emotional control: boys: 0.44 (95% CI = -0.13, 1.26); girls: -0.83 (95% CI = -1.73, -0.00); working memory: boys: 0.49 (95% CI = 0.03, 1.08); girls: -0.40 (95% CI = -1.11, 0.36)]. Fewer sex interactions were observed for DnBP, BBOEP, and BDCIPP, with irregular patterns observed across EF domains.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We found some evidence prenatal OPE exposure may impact EF in preschoolers and variation in associations by sex.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/4c/d3/ee9-7-e251.PMC10256412.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9673681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Examining the Relationship Between Extreme Temperature, Microclimate Indicators, and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Pregnant Women Living in Southern California.","authors":"Anais Teyton,&nbsp;Yi Sun,&nbsp;John Molitor,&nbsp;Jiu-Chiuan Chen,&nbsp;David Sacks,&nbsp;Chantal Avila,&nbsp;Vicki Chiu,&nbsp;Jeff Slezak,&nbsp;Darios Getahun,&nbsp;Jun Wu,&nbsp;Tarik Benmarhnia","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000252","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/EE9.0000000000000252","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Few studies have assessed extreme temperatures' impact on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We examined the relation between GDM risk with weekly exposure to extreme high and low temperatures during the first 24 weeks of gestation and assessed potential effect modification by microclimate indicators.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We utilized 2008-2018 data for pregnant women from Kaiser Permanente Southern California electronic health records. GDM screening occurred between 24 and 28 gestational weeks for most women using the Carpenter-Coustan criteria or the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups criteria. Daily maximum, minimum, and mean temperature data were linked to participants' residential address. We utilized distributed lag models, which assessed the lag from the first to the corresponding week, with logistic regression models to examine the exposure-lag-response associations between the 12 weekly extreme temperature exposures and GDM risk. We used the relative risk due to interaction (RERI) to estimate the additive modification of microclimate indicators on the relation between extreme temperature and GDM risk.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>GDM risks increased with extreme low temperature during gestational weeks 20--24 and with extreme high temperature at weeks 11-16. Microclimate indicators modified the influence of extreme temperatures on GDM risk. For example, there were positive RERIs for high-temperature extremes and less greenness, and a negative RERI for low-temperature extremes and increased impervious surface percentage.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Susceptibility windows to extreme temperatures during pregnancy were observed. Modifiable microclimate indicators were identified that may attenuate temperature exposures during these windows, which could in turn reduce the health burden from GDM.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10256373/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9673678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An Examination of the Joint Effect of the Social Environment and Air Pollution on Dementia Among US Older Adults.","authors":"Sindana D Ilango, Cindy S Leary, Emily Ritchie, Erin O Semmens, Christina Park, Annette L Fitzpatrick, Joel D Kaufman, Anjum Hajat","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000250","DOIUrl":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000250","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Evidence suggests exposure to air pollution increases the risk of dementia. Cognitively stimulating activities and social interactions, made available through the social environment, may slow cognitive decline. We examined whether the social environment buffers the adverse effect of air pollution on dementia in a cohort of older adults.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study draws from the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study. Participants aged 75 years and older were enrolled between 2000 and 2002 and evaluated for dementia semi-annually through 2008. Long-term exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide was assigned from spatial and spatiotemporal models. Census tract-level measures of the social environment and individual measures of social activity were used as measures of the social environment. We generated Cox proportional hazard models with census tract as a random effect and adjusted for demographic and study visit characteristics. Relative excess risk due to interaction was estimated as a qualitative measure of additive interaction.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This study included 2,564 individuals. We observed associations between increased risk of dementia and fine particulate matter (µg/m³), coarse particulate matter (µg/m³), and nitrogen dioxide (ppb); HRs per 5 unit increase were 1.55 (1.01, 2.18), 1.31 (1.07, 1.60), and 1.18 (1.02, 1.37), respectively. We found no evidence of additive interaction between air pollution and the neighborhood social environment.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We found no consistent evidence to suggest a synergistic effect between exposure to air pollution and measures of the social environment. Given the many qualities of the social environment that may reduce dementia pathology, further examination is encouraged.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/c3/48/ee9-7-e250.PMC10256342.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9967601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prenatal Ambient Air Pollutant Mixture Exposure and Early School-age Lung Function.","authors":"Hsiao-Hsien Leon Hsu, Ander Wilson, Joel Schwartz, Itai Kloog, Robert O Wright, Brent A Coull, Rosalind J Wright","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000249","DOIUrl":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000249","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research linking prenatal ambient air pollution with childhood lung function has largely considered one pollutant at a time. Real-life exposure is to mixtures of pollutants and their chemical components; not considering joint effects/effect modification by co-exposures contributes to misleading results.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Analyses included 198 mother-child dyads recruited from two hospitals and affiliated community health centers in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Daily prenatal pollutant exposures were estimated using satellite-based hybrid chemical-transport models, including nitrogen dioxide(NO₂), ozone(O₃), and fine particle constituents (elemental carbon [EC], organic carbon [OC], nitrate [NO₃ ^-], sulfate [SO₄ ^2-], and ammonium [NH₄ ⁺]). Spirometry was performed at age 6.99 ± 0.89 years; forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV₁), forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced mid-expiratory flow (FEF_25-75) z-scores accounted for age, sex, height, and race/ethnicity. We examined associations between weekly-averaged prenatal pollution mixture levels and outcomes using Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression-Distributed Lag Models (BKMR-DLMs) to identify susceptibility windows for each component and estimate a potentially complex mixture exposure-response relationship including nonlinear effects and interactions among exposures. We also performed linear regression models using time-weighted-mixture component levels derived by BKMR-DLMs adjusting for maternal age, education, perinatal smoking, and temperature.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Most mothers were Hispanic (63%) or Black (21%) with ≤12 years of education (67%). BKMR-DLMs identified a significant effect for O₃ exposure at 18-22 weeks gestation predicting lower FEV₁/FVC. Linear regression identified significant associations for O_3, NH₄ ⁺, and OC with decreased FEV₁/FVC, FEV₁, and FEF_25-75, respectively. There was no evidence of interactions among pollutants.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In this multi-pollutant model, prenatal O₃, OC, and NH₄ ⁺ were most strongly associated with reduced early childhood lung function.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/77/46/ee9-7-e249.PMC10097575.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9309543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"It's electric! An environmental equity perspective on the lifecycle of our energy sources.","authors":"Mary D Willis, Lara J Cushing, Jonathan J Buonocore, Nicole C Deziel, Joan A Casey","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000246","DOIUrl":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000246","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Energy policy decisions are driven primarily by economic and reliability considerations, with limited consideration given to public health, environmental justice, and climate change. Moreover, epidemiologic studies relevant for public policy typically focus on immediate public health implications of activities related to energy procurement and generation, considering less so health equity or the longer-term health consequences of climate change attributable to an energy source. A more integrated, collective consideration of these three domains can provide more robust guidance to policymakers, communities, and individuals. Here, we illustrate how these domains can be evaluated with respect to natural gas as an energy source. Our process began with a detailed overview of all relevant steps in the process of extracting, producing, and consuming natural gas. We synthesized existing epidemiologic and complementary evidence of how these processes impact public health, environmental justice, and climate change. We conclude that, in certain domains, natural gas looks beneficial (e.g., economically for some), but when considered more expansively, through the life cycle of natural gas and joint lenses of public health, environmental justice, and climate change, natural gas is rendered an undesirable energy source in the United States. A holistic climate health equity framework can inform how we value and deploy different energy sources in the service of public health.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/6c/35/ee9-7-e246.PMC10097546.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9704203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Applying principal component pursuit to investigate the association between source-specific fine particulate matter and myocardial infarction hospitalizations in New York City.","authors":"Rachel H Tao,&nbsp;Lawrence G Chillrud,&nbsp;Yanelli Nunez,&nbsp;Sebastian T Rowland,&nbsp;Amelia K Boehme,&nbsp;Jingkai Yan,&nbsp;Jeff Goldsmith,&nbsp;John Wright,&nbsp;Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/EE9.0000000000000243","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The association between fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and cardiovascular outcomes is well established. To evaluate whether source-specific PM_2.5 is differentially associated with cardiovascular disease in New York City (NYC), we identified PM_2.5 sources and examined the association between source-specific PM_2.5 exposure and risk of hospitalization for myocardial infarction (MI).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We adapted principal component pursuit (PCP), a dimensionality-reduction technique previously used in computer vision, as a novel pattern recognition method for environmental mixtures to apportion speciated PM_2.5 to its sources. We used data from the NY Department of Health Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System of daily city-wide counts of MI admissions (2007-2015). We examined associations between same-day, lag 1, and lag 2 source-specific PM_2.5 exposure and MI admissions in a time-series analysis, using a quasi-Poisson regression model adjusting for potential confounders.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We identified four sources of PM_2.5 pollution: crustal, salt, traffic, and regional and detected three single-species factors: cadmium, chromium, and barium. In adjusted models, we observed a 0.40% (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.21, 1.01%) increase in MI admission rates per 1 μg/m³ increase in traffic PM_2.5, a 0.44% (95% CI: -0.04, 0.93%) increase per 1 μg/m³ increase in crustal PM_2.5, and a 1.34% (95% CI: -0.46, 3.17%) increase per 1 μg/m³ increase in chromium-related PM_2.5, on average.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In our NYC study, we identified traffic, crustal dust, and chromium PM_2.5 as potentially relevant sources for cardiovascular disease. We also demonstrated the potential utility of PCP as a pattern recognition method for environmental mixtures.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/17/52/ee9-7-e243.PMC10097537.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9309545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clean air in Europe for all: A call for more ambitious action.","authors":"Hanna Boogaard,&nbsp;Zorana Jovanovic Andersen,&nbsp;Bert Brunekreef,&nbsp;Francesco Forastiere,&nbsp;Bertil Forsberg,&nbsp;Gerard Hoek,&nbsp;Michal Krzyzanowski,&nbsp;Ebba Malmqvist,&nbsp;Mark Nieuwenhuijsen,&nbsp;Barbara Hoffmann","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/EE9.0000000000000245","url":null,"abstract":"Ambient air pollution is a major global public health risk factor. There is now broad consensus that exposure to air pollution causes an array of adverse health effects based on evidence from a large scientific literature that has grown exponentially since the mid-1990s.1–4 Air pollution damages most organ systems and is linked to many debilitating diseases, such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, stroke, diabetes, lung cancer, and dementia.5 The Global Burden of Disease study estimated that in 2019 air pollution ranked as the fourth global risk factor for mortality, surpassed only by high blood pressure, tobacco use, and poor diet.6 The European Environment Agency estimated 300,000 premature deaths due to air pollution in the EU-27 in 2020—an unacceptable high air pollution burden.7 Air pollution levels have generally declined over the last several decades in Europe, due largely to successful air quality regulation and subsequent improvements in technology and industry. The current air quality legislation in Europe—the Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) from 2008—set limit values for the annual mean of the air pollutants PM2.5 and NO2 to 25 and 40 μg/m3, respectively.8 These limit values are criticized for being insufficient to protect the health of EU citizens.9,10 The World Health Organization (WHO) released new Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) in September 2021, based on a comprehensive synthesis of the scientific evidence on health effects of air pollution.4 They recommended that annual mean concentrations of PM2.5 and NO2 should not exceed 5 and 10 μg/m3, respectively, demonstrating that serious health effects occur above these values. The health community supports full alignment of EU legislation with the 2021 WHO AQG, indicated by a joint statement which was endorsed by more than 140 medical, public health, and scientific societies and patient organizations.11 The European Commission (EC) published a proposal to revise the AAQD on October 26, 2022.12 The EC also published an accompanying impact assessment, quantifying the expected air pollution concentrations and resulting healthand implementation costs for various policy options.13 The European Parliament and the Council are currently considering the proposal. The proposal includes important steps to achieve cleaner air but falls short of what is ultimately needed to maximize public health benefits, for the reasons explained below.","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10097564/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9309544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Campylobacter and laboratory analysis type: <i>A</i> case-case analysis to determine differences in risk factors: retraction.","authors":"","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/EE9.0000000000000248","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1097/01.EE9.0000610692.70981.02.].</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/53/5e/ee9-7-e248.PMC10097571.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9323380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exposure-response relationship of residential dampness and mold damage with severe lower respiratory tract infections among under-five children in Nigeria.","authors":"Adekunle Gregory Fakunle,&nbsp;Nkosana Jafta,&nbsp;Akinkunmi Paul Okekunle,&nbsp;Lidwien A M Smit,&nbsp;Rajen N Naidoo","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000247","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/EE9.0000000000000247","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous epidemiological studies demonstrated an increased risk of respiratory health effects in children and adults exposed to dampness or mold. This study investigated associations of quantitative indicators of indoor dampness and mold exposure with severe lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) among children aged 1-59 months in Ibadan, Nigeria.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In-home visits were conducted among 178 children hospitalized with LRTI matched by age (±3 months), sex, and geographical location with 180 community-based children without LRTI. Trained study staff evaluated the indoor environment using a standardized home walkthrough checklist and measured visible dampness and mold damage. Damp-moldy Index (DMI) was also estimated to quantify the level of exposure. Exposure-response relationships of dampness and mold exposure with severe LRTI were assessed using multivariable restricted cubic spline regression models adjusting for relevant child, housing, and environmental characteristics.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Severe LRTI cases were more often male than female (61.8%), and the overall mean (SD) age was 7.3 (1.35) months. Children exposed to dampness <0.3 m² (odds ratio [OR] = 2.11; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05, 4.36), and between 0.3 and 1.0 m² (OR = 2.34; 95% CI = 1.01, 7.32), had a higher odds of severe LRTI compared with children not exposed to dampness. The restricted cubic spline showed a linear exposure-response association between severe LRTI and residential dampness (<i>P</i> < 0.001) but a nonlinear relationship with DMI (<i>P</i> = 0.01).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Residential dampness and DMI were exposure-dependently associated with higher odds of severe LRTI among under-five children. If observed relationships were causal, public health intervention strategies targeted at reducing residential dampness are critically important to mitigate the burden of severe LRTI among under-five children.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/cc/d4/ee9-7-e247.PMC10097558.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9309542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sulfur dioxide reduction at coal-fired power plants in North Carolina and associations with preterm birth among surrounding residents.","authors":"Adrien A Wilkie, David B Richardson, Thomas J Luben, Marc L Serre, Courtney G Woods, Julie L Daniels","doi":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000241","DOIUrl":"10.1097/EE9.0000000000000241","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coal-fired power plants (CFPP) are major contributors of air pollution, including the majority of anthropogenic sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions, which have been associated with preterm birth (PTB). To address a 2002 North Carolina (NC) policy, 14 of the largest NC CFPPs either installed desulfurization equipment (scrubbers) or retired coal units, resulting in substantial reductions of SO₂ air emissions. We investigated whether SO₂ air emission reduction strategies at CFPPs in NC were associated with changes in prevalence of PTB in nearby communities.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used US EPA Air Markets Program Data to track SO₂ emissions and determine the implementation dates of intervention at CFPPs and geocoded 2003-2015 NC singleton live births. We conducted a difference-in-difference analysis to estimate change in PTB associated with change in SO₂ reduction strategies for populations living 0-<4 and 4-<10 miles from CFPPs pre- and postintervention, with a comparison of those living 10-<15 miles from CFPPs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>With the spatial-temporal exposure restrictions applied, 42,231 and 41,218 births were within 15 miles of CFPP-scrubbers and CFPP-retired groups, respectively. For residents within 4-<10 miles from a CFPP, we estimated that the absolute prevalence of PTB decreased by -1.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): -2.6, -0.4] associated with scrubber installation and -0.5% (95% CI: -1.6, 0.6) associated with the retirement of coal units at CFPPs. Our findings were imprecise and generally null-to-positive among those living within 0-<4 miles regardless of the intervention type.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Results suggest a reduction of PTB among residents 4-<10 miles of the CFPPs that installed scrubbers.</p>","PeriodicalId":11713,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Epidemiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/7d/b8/ee9-7-e241.PMC10097570.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9326834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}