Statistical issues in the study of air pollution involving airborne particulate matter

Abstract

Epidemiological research in the early 1990s focusing on health effects of airborne particulate matter pointed to a statistical association between increases in concentration of particles in ambient air and increases in daily nonaccidental mortality, particularly among the elderly. These results appear consistent across a range of U.S. cities. This and other scientific and policy information formed the basis on which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) promulgated revised, stricter air quality standards for particulate matter in 1997. The schedule for implementing the revised standards is coincident with the completion by USEPA of a Second National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) review for ambient particulate matter by July 2002 based on current science and policy information. Concurrently, the U.S. Congress directed USEPA to seek advice from the National Academy of Sciences, resulting in formation of the National Research Council Committee on Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter. In its 1998 report, the Committee identified 10 research priorities for setting regulatory standards for particulate matter. The 10th priority addressed statistical issues. To explore these issues, the National Research Center for Statistics and the Environment and the USEPA organized a 1998 interdisciplinary Workshop on Particulate Methodology. A primary objective of the Workshop was to initiate a statistical research program relevant to setting air quality standards for ambient particulate matter pollution to be completed during the second NAAQS review. This paper reports findings and recommendations from the Workshop and an agenda for statistical research motivated therefrom relevant to the study of air pollution involving particulate matter and to setting particulate matter air quality standards. Published in 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.