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2006 Progress Report: A Pilot Geospatial Analysis of Exposure to Air Pollutants (with Special Attention to Air Toxics) and Hospital Admissions in Harris County, Texas

EPA Grant Number: R828678C011
Subproject: this is subproject number 011 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R824834
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC)
Center Director: Beskid, Craig
Title: A Pilot Geospatial Analysis of Exposure to Air Pollutants (with Special Attention to Air Toxics) and Hospital Admissions in Harris County, Texas
Investigators: Hamilton, William P.
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
EPA Project Officer: Katz, Stacey
Project Period: January 2, 2001 through December 31, 2005 (Extended to December 31, 2008)
Project Period Covered by this Report: January 2, 2005 through December 31, 2006
RFA: Targeted Research Center (2004)
Research Category: Hazardous Waste/Remediation , Air Toxics , Targeted Research

Description:

Objective:

The investigators are testing the hypothesis that the rate of Harris County residents hospitalized during the study period differs geographically among the 337 4x4 km domains, and correlates with exposure to modeled air pollutants, even after adjusting for available individual and domain-specific demographic confounders. The investigators will use the USEPA’s Community Multiscale Air Quality with Air Toxics (CMAQ-AT) model to estimate pollutant concentrations, and ArcGIS (ESRI, Redlands, CA) geospatial modeling software to extract and/or combine the exposure, admissions, and demographic data for each of the domains for subsequent analysis. SAS 9.1.2 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) will be the primary statistical software used.

Year 1 will focus on August 2000, a period for which the investigators have particularly robust emissions data. Comparison of modeled and measured concentrations will be done using measurements from Continuous Air Monitoring Sites (CAMS), the 2000 Texas Air Quality Study and available 24-hour samples of air toxics. During year 2, we will analyze 3 months of data, using the emission and methodological refinements developed during year 1.

Background:

This is an ongoing approved research project under the NUATRC’s Small Grants Program. A two year research contract was signed between NUATRC and Baylor College of Medicine on April 29, 2005. Baylor College of Medicine Environmental Health Section (BCM-EHS) is collaborating on the project with the University of Texas School of Public Health (UTSPH) and the University of Houston Institute of Multidimensional Air Quality Studies (UH-IMAQS).

Progress Summary:

The goal of this study is to analyze potential spatial relationships between hospital admissions and air pollution, with special attention to air toxics, in Harris County, Texas.

Dr Hamilton submitted a 10-month progress report in February 2006 which was reviewed and discussed by the SAP at the May 2006 SAP meeting. The SAP was pleased with the progress on the study. In her response on September 22, 2006, Dr. Hamilton requested additional funding for bio-statistical support. The NUATRC approved this request. Year 2, 5-month report was received on October 9, 2006 and discussed at the SAP meeting. Some comments regarding data interpretation were provided to the Investigator. The project is expected to continue for two years until approximately June 2007.

Future Activities:

The next report will be the draft final report which will be due in March 2007.

Supplemental Keywords:

 , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, HUMAN HEALTH, Geographic Area, Scientific Discipline, Health, RFA, PHYSICAL ASPECTS, Health Effects, Risk Assessments, Aquatic Ecosystems & Estuarine Research, Health Risk Assessment, Physical Processes, Aquatic Ecosystem, Biochemistry, Genetics, State, adolescents, water quality, urban environment, airborne urban contaminants, environmental tobacco smoke, respiratory disease, ozone, cigarette smoke, human health risk, Texas (TX), air pollution, airway disease, particulate matter, exposure, allergic airway disease, asthma, human exposure
Relevant Websites:

http://www.sph.uth.tmc.edu/mleland/ exit EPA

Progress and Final Reports:
2005 Progress Report
Original Abstract
2007 Progress Report


Main Center Abstract and Reports:
R824834    Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC)

Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R824834C001 Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles - A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
R824834C002 Cardiopulmonary Response to Particulate Exposure
R824834C003 VOC Exposure in an Industry Impacted Community
R824834C004 A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
R824834C005 Methods Development Project for a Study of Personal Exposures to Toxic Air Pollutants
R824834C006 Relationship Between Indoor, Outdoor and Personal Air (RIOPA)
R824834C007 Development of the "Leland Legacy" Air Sampling Pump
R824834C008 Source Apportionment of Indoor Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Urban Residences
R824834C009 Development of a Personal Cascade Impactor Sampler (PCIS)
R824834C010 Testing the Metals Hypothesis in Spokane
R828678C001 Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles—A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
R828678C002 Cardiopulmonary Effects of Metal-Containing Particulate Exposure
R828678C003 VOC Exposure in an Industry Impacted Community
R828678C004 A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
R828678C005 Oxygenated Urban Air Toxics and Asthma Variability in Middle School Children: A Panel Study (ATAC–Air Toxics and Asthma in Children)
R828678C006 Relationship between Indoor, Outdoor and Personal Air (RIOPA). Part II: Analyses of Concentrations of Particulate Matter Species
R828678C007 Development of the “Leland Legacy” Air Sampling Pump
R828678C008 Source Apportionment of Indoor PAHs in Urban Residences 98-03B
R828678C009 Development of a Personal Cascade Impactor Sampler (PCIS)
R828678C010 Testing the Metals Hypothesis in Spokane
R828678C011 A Pilot Geospatial Analysis of Exposure to Air Pollutants (with Special Attention to Air Toxics) and Hospital Admissions in Harris County, Texas
R828678C012 Impact of Exposure to Urban Air Toxics on Asthma Utilization for the Pediatric Medicaid Population in Dearborn, Michigan
R828678C013 Field Validation of the Sioutas Sampler and Leland Legacy Pump – Joint Project with EPA’s Environmental Technology Validation Program (ETV)
R828678C014 Performance Evaluation of the 3M Charcoal Vapor Monitor for Monitor Low Ambient Concentrations of VOCs
R828678C015 RIOPA Database Development
R828678C016 Contributions of Outdoor PM Sources to Indoor and Personal Exposures: Analysis of PM Species Concentrations” Focused on the PM Speciation and Apportioning of Sources
R828678C017 The Short and Long-Term Respiratory Effects of Exposure to PAHs from Traffic in a Cohort of Asthmatic Children

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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