Abstract
BackgroundExtended tunnelled roadways requiring ventilation via exhaust stacks are an increasingly common solution to traffic congestion around the world. In response to community concerns about adverse health effects associated with emissions from a new road tunnel exhaust stack, despite no demonstrable change in local ambient air quality, we conducted a cross sectional study to test for an association between exposure to the exhaust stack emissions and the presence of eye, nose and throat symptoms.MethodsStack emissions were modelled and categorised into areas of high, medium and low levels of exposure to emissions. A telephone interview survey was conducted in these three zones. Multivariate analysis was undertaken using Cox Proportional Hazards modelling to estimate prevalence ratios between zones for eye, nose and throat symptoms.ResultsThe prevalence of eye, nose and throat symptoms in the study area were 50 percent, 67 percent and 33 percent respectively and did not differ between the exposure zones. The presence of these symptoms was associated with a measure of reported "environmental worry".ConclusionThe study did not demonstrate a community wide health impact associated with modelled emissions but is unable to exclude the possibility of sensitive individuals being adversely affected.
Highlights
Extended tunnelled roadways requiring ventilation via exhaust stacks are an increasingly common solution to traffic congestion around the world
Extended tunnelled roadways requiring ventilation and exhaust stacks are a relatively new phenomenon in Australia. They have been built as one response to the need to alleviate traffic congestion within Sydney, Australia
This paper describes a cross sectional study examining the association between exposure to stack emissions and the presence of the symptoms that were identified in the previous qualitative study
Summary
Extended tunnelled roadways requiring ventilation via exhaust stacks are an increasingly common solution to traffic congestion around the world. Extended tunnelled roadways requiring ventilation and exhaust stacks are a relatively new phenomenon in Australia. They have been built as one response to the need to alleviate traffic congestion within Sydney, Australia. Previous studies have examined health effects and environmental perception in communities around other point pollutant sources such as hazardous waste sites, waste incineration and industrial production [1,2,3,4,5]. Two studies reported significant associations between environmental worry and health symptoms [2,6]. Traffic related air pollution has been shown to be associated with respiratory symptoms such as wheezing, cough and allergic rhinitis [7,8] and sensitisation to pollen [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
