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Panel discussion review: session two — interpretation of observed associations between multiple ambient air pollutants and health effects in epidemiologic analyses

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 17, pages S83–S89 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Air pollution epidemiologic research has often utilized ambient air concentrations measured from centrally located monitors as a surrogate measure of exposure to these pollutants. Associations between these ambient concentrations and health outcomes such as lung function, hospital admissions, and mortality have been examined in short- and long-term cohort studies as well as in time-series and case-crossover studies. The issues related to interpreting the observed associations of ambient air pollutants with health outcomes were discussed at the US EPA sponsored workshop on December 13 and 14, 2006 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. The second session of this workshop focused on the following topics: (1) statistical methodology and study designs that may improve understanding of multipollutant health effects; (2) ambient concentrations as surrogate measures of pollutant mixtures; and (3) source-focused epidemiologic research. New methodology and approaches to better distinguish the effects of individual pollutants include multicity hierarchical modeling and the use of case-crossover analysis to control for copollutants. An alternative approach is to examine the mixture as a whole using principal component analysis. Another important consideration is to what extent the observed health associations are attributable to individual pollutants, which are often from common sources and are correlated, versus the pollutant mixtures that the pollutants are representing. For example, several ambient air concentrations, such as particulate matter mass, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide, may be serving as surrogate measures of motor vehicle exhaust. Source apportionment analysis is one method that may allow further advancement in understanding the source components that contribute to multipollutant health effects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Environmental Assessment, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    Jee Young Kim

  2. Biostatistics Division, Environmental Health Surveillance, Health Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Richard T Burnett

  3. National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Lucas Neas

  4. Department of Environmental Medicine, Institute of Environmental Medicine, New York University, Tuxedo Park, NY, USA

    George D Thurston

  5. Department of Environmental Health, Exposure, Epidemiology, and Risk Program, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Joel Schwartz

  6. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Paige E Tolbert

  7. Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

    Bert Brunekreef

  8. Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Mark S Goldberg

  9. National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Isabelle Romieu

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  1. Jee Young Kim
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  2. Richard T Burnett
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  3. Lucas Neas
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  4. George D Thurston
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  5. Joel Schwartz
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  6. Paige E Tolbert
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  7. Bert Brunekreef
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  8. Mark S Goldberg
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  9. Isabelle Romieu
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Correspondence to Jee Young Kim.

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Kim, J., Burnett, R., Neas, L. et al. Panel discussion review: session two — interpretation of observed associations between multiple ambient air pollutants and health effects in epidemiologic analyses. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 17 (Suppl 2), S83–S89 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500623

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500623

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