Abstract
BackgroundIn urban environments, environmental air pollution poses significant risks to respiratory health. Moreover, the seasonal spatial variability of the air pollutant ozone, and respiratory illness within Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) is not well understood. We examine the relationships between spatial patterns of long-term ozone exposure and respiratory illness to better understand impacts on health outcomes. We propose that this study will establish an enhanced understanding of the spatio-temporal characteristics of ozone concentrations and respiratory emergency room visits (ERV) incidence.MethodsAir pollution data (ozone) and ERV incidence data from DFW was used to evaluate the relationships between exposures and outcomes using three steps: (1) develop a geostatistical model to produce quarterly maps of ozone exposure for the DFW area; (2) use spatial analysis techniques to identify clusters of zip codes with high or low values of ozone exposure and respiratory ERV incidence; and (3) use concentration-response curves to evaluate the relationships between respiratory ERV incidence and ozone exposure.ResultsRespiratory ERV incidence was highest in quarters 1 and 4, while ozone exposure was highest in quarters 2 and 3. Extensive statistically significant spatial clusters of ozone regions were identified. Although the maps revealed that there was no regional association between the spatial patterns of high respiratory ERV incidence and ozone exposure, the concentration-response analysis suggests that lower levels of ozone exposure may still contribute to adverse respiratory outcomes.
Highlights
Despite significant efforts to reduce ozone air pollution, urban counties across the United States (US) are in non-attainment of federal standards for the health hazardous pollutant ozone (U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2017)
The HH clusters tend to be in the northern and western parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area during the high season (Q2 and Q3). This is expected given that the ozone transport and precursor distribution is influenced by the prevailing winds in the region being from SSE to NNW, causing an increased development of ozone in the observed clusters (Kim, Byun & Cohan, 2009)
Our study shows that there seems to be no direct correlation in the spatial patterns of respiratory emergency room visit (ERV) incidence rates and ozone
Summary
Despite significant efforts to reduce ozone air pollution, urban counties across the United States (US) are in non-attainment of federal standards for the health hazardous pollutant ozone (U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2017). Evaluating spatial patterns of seasonal ozone exposure and incidence of respiratory emergency room visits in Dallas-Fort Worth. Environmental air pollution poses significant risks to respiratory health. The seasonal spatial variability of the air pollutant ozone, and respiratory illness within Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) is not well understood. We examine the relationships between spatial patterns of long-term ozone exposure and respiratory illness to better understand impacts on health outcomes. The maps revealed that there was no regional association between the spatial patterns of high respiratory ERV incidence and ozone exposure, the concentration-response analysis suggests that lower levels of ozone exposure may still contribute to adverse respiratory outcomes
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