Investigating the Health Risks Associated with Long-Term Exposure to Coarse PM

• Activity Number: 351
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and the Environment
• Author(s): Helen Louise Powell*+ and Roger D. Peng
• Companies: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University
• Keywords: Air pollution ; Health risks ; Long-term ; Spatial confounding ; Bayesian hierarchical modeling

Abstract

In recent studies consideration has been given to the health risks associated with the coarse fraction of particulate matter (PM), that is particles which are between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter. Studies have found that the acute effects of coarse PM are as strong if not stronger than those of fine PM (< 2.5 microns in diameter), which suggests that consideration should be given to the study and regulation of coarse particles. However, those who have investigated the long-term effects of this particular pollutant have found conflicting results. This may be due to differences with regards to the time periods and geographical boundaries under consideration. However, it may also be due to issues with regards to spatial confounding, which occurs when there is a lack of measurements on the key variables which may affect the relationship between the pollutant and the health outcome of interest. Therefore, using health data from the Medicare billings claims and pollution data from the EPA monitoring network we aim to investigate the need for a model which accounts for the potentiality of spatial confounding when investigating the health risks of chronic exposure to coarse PM.