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Time series analysis of personal exposure to ambient air pollution and mortality using an exposure simulator

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 22, pages 483–488 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

This paper describes a modeling framework for estimating the acute effects of personal exposure to ambient air pollution in a time series design. First, a spatial hierarchical model is used to relate Census tract-level daily ambient concentrations and simulated exposures for a subset of the study period. The complete exposure time series is then imputed for risk estimation. Modeling exposure via a statistical model reduces the computational burden associated with simulating personal exposures considerably. This allows us to consider personal exposures at a finer spatial resolution to improve exposure assessment and for a longer study period. The proposed approach is applied to an analysis of fine particulate matter of <2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) and daily mortality in the New York City metropolitan area during the period 2001–2005. Personal PM2.5 exposures were simulated from the Stochastic Human Exposure and Dose Simulation. Accounting for exposure uncertainty, the authors estimated a 2.32% (95% posterior interval: 0.68, 3.94) increase in mortality per a 10 μg/m3 increase in personal exposure to PM2.5 from outdoor sources on the previous day. The corresponding estimates per a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 ambient concentration was 1.13% (95% confidence interval: 0.27, 2.00). The risks of mortality associated with PM2.5 were also higher during the summer months.

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Acknowledgements

The research is supported by Grant DMS-0635449, DMS-0706731, DMS-0706731, DMS-0353029 from the National Science Foundation, US EPA Grant RD-83329201-4, US EPA STAR Research Assistance Agreement No. R833863, and Grant No. 1 R01 ES014843-01A2 from the National Institutes of Health. The authors thank Lucas M Neas and Judy Schmid of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory of the US Environmental Protection Agency for providing the mortality data. Janet M Burke and Haluk Ozkaynak of the National Exposure Research Laboratory of the US Environmental Protection Agency provided access to SHEDS-PM and guidance regarding its use.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road. NE. Mailstop: 1518-002-3AA, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Howard H Chang

  2. Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Montserrat Fuentes

  3. Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    H Christopher Frey

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Correspondence to Howard H Chang.

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Chang, H., Fuentes, M. & Frey, H. Time series analysis of personal exposure to ambient air pollution and mortality using an exposure simulator. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 22, 483–488 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2012.53

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