The contribution of motor vehicle emissions to ambient fine particulate matter public health impacts in New York City: a health burden assessment

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Abstract

Background

On-road vehicles are an important source of fine particulate matter (PM _2.5) in cities, but spatially varying traffic emissions and vulnerable populations make it difficult to assess impacts to inform policy and the public.

Methods

We estimated PM _2.5-attributable mortality and morbidity from on-road vehicle generated air pollution in the New York City (NYC) region using high-spatial-resolution emissions estimates, air quality modeling, and local health incidence data to evaluate variations in impacts by vehicle class, neighborhood, and area socioeconomic status. We developed multiple ‘zero-out’ emission scenarios focused on regional and local cars, trucks, and buses in the NYC region. We simulated PM _2.5 concentrations using the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model at a 1-km spatial resolution over NYC and combined modeled estimates with monitored data from 2010 to 2012. We applied health impact functions and local health data to quantify the PM _2.5-attributable health burden on NYC residents within 42 city neighborhoods.

Results

We estimate that all on-road mobile sources in the NYC region contribute to 320 (95 % Confidence Interval (CI): 220–420) deaths and 870 (95 % CI: 440–1280) hospitalizations and emergency department visits annually within NYC due to PM _2.5 exposures, accounting for 5850 (95 % CI: 4020–7620) years of life lost. Trucks and buses within NYC accounted for the largest share of on-road mobile-attributable ambient PM _2.5, contributing up to 14.9 % of annual average levels across 1-km grid cells, and were associated with 170 (95 % CI: 110–220) PM _2.5-attributable deaths each year. These contributions were not evenly distributed, with high poverty neighborhoods experiencing a larger share of the exposure and health burden than low poverty neighborhoods.

Conclusion

Reducing motor vehicle emissions, especially from trucks and buses, could produce significant health benefits and reduce disparities in impacts. Our high-spatial-resolution modeling approach could improve assessment of on-road vehicle health impacts in other cities.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-016-0172-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Most cited references 25

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Air Pollution and Individual and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Anjum Hajat, Ana V. Diez Roux, Sara D. Adar … (2013)

Background: Although research has shown that low socioeconomic status (SES) and minority communities have higher exposure to air pollution, few studies have simultaneously investigated the associations of individual and neighborhood SES with pollutants across multiple sites. Objectives: We characterized the distribution of ambient air pollution by both individual and neighborhood SES using spatial regression methods. Methods: The study population comprised 6,140 participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Year 2000 annual average ambient PM2.5 and NOx concentrations were calculated for each study participant’s home address at baseline examination. We investigated individual and neighborhood (2000 U.S. Census tract level) SES measures corresponding to the domains of income, wealth, education, and occupation. We used a spatial intrinsic conditional autoregressive model for multivariable analysis and examined pooled and metropolitan area–specific models. Results: A 1-unit increase in the z-score for family income was associated with 0.03-μg/m3 lower PM2.5 (95% CI: –0.05, –0.01) and 0.93% lower NOx (95% CI: –1.33, –0.53) after adjustment for covariates. A 1-SD–unit increase in the neighborhood’s percentage of persons with at least a high school degree was associated with 0.47-μg/m3 lower mean PM2.5 (95% CI: –0.55, –0.40) and 9.61% lower NOx (95% CI: –10.85, –8.37). Metropolitan area–specific results exhibited considerable heterogeneity. For example, in New York, high-SES neighborhoods were associated with higher concentrations of pollution. Conclusions: We found statistically significant associations of SES measures with predicted air pollutant concentrations, demonstrating the importance of accounting for neighborhood- and individual-level SES in air pollution health effects research. Citation: Hajat A, Diez-Roux AV, Adar SD, Auchincloss AH, Lovasi GS, O’Neill MS, Sheppard L, Kaufman JD. 2013. Air pollution and individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status: evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Environ Health Perspect 121:1325–1333; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206337

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Impact of changes in transportation and commuting behaviors during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta on air quality and childhood asthma.

Michael S Friedman (2001)

Vehicle exhaust is a major source of ozone and other air pollutants. Although high ground-level ozone pollution is associated with transient increases in asthma morbidity, the impact of citywide transportation changes on air quality and childhood asthma has not been studied. The alternative transportation strategy implemented during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga, provided such an opportunity. To describe traffic changes in Atlanta, Ga, during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and concomitant changes in air quality and childhood asthma events. Ecological study comparing the 17 days of the Olympic Games (July 19-August 4, 1996) to a baseline period consisting of the 4 weeks before and 4 weeks after the Olympic Games. Children aged 1 to 16 years who resided in the 5 central counties of metropolitan Atlanta and whose data were captured in 1 of 4 databases. Citywide acute care visits and hospitalizations for asthma (asthma events) and nonasthma events, concentrations of major air pollutants, meteorological variables, and traffic counts. During the Olympic Games, the number of asthma acute care events decreased 41.6% (4.23 vs 2.47 daily events) in the Georgia Medicaid claims file, 44.1% (1.36 vs 0.76 daily events) in a health maintenance organization database, 11.1% (4.77 vs 4.24 daily events) in 2 pediatric emergency departments, and 19.1% (2.04 vs 1.65 daily hospitalizations) in the Georgia Hospital Discharge Database. The number of nonasthma acute care events in the 4 databases changed -3.1%, +1.3%, -2.1%, and +1.0%, respectively. In multivariate regression analysis, only the reduction in asthma events recorded in the Medicaid database was significant (relative risk, 0.48; 95% confidence interval, 0.44-0.86). Peak daily ozone concentrations decreased 27.9%, from 81.3 ppb during the baseline period to 58.6 ppb during the Olympic Games (P<.001). Peak weekday morning traffic counts dropped 22.5% (P<.001). Traffic counts were significantly correlated with that day's peak ozone concentration (average r = 0.36 for all 4 roads examined). Meteorological conditions during the Olympic Games did not differ substantially from the baseline period. Efforts to reduce downtown traffic congestion in Atlanta during the Olympic Games resulted in decreased traffic density, especially during the critical morning period. This was associated with a prolonged reduction in ozone pollution and significantly lower rates of childhood asthma events. These data provide support for efforts to reduce air pollution and improve health via reductions in motor vehicle traffic.

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Near-highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks

Doug Brugge, John Durant, Christine Rioux (2007)

There is growing evidence of a distinct set of freshly-emitted air pollutants downwind from major highways, motorways, and freeways that include elevated levels of ultrafine particulates (UFP), black carbon (BC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO). People living or otherwise spending substantial time within about 200 m of highways are exposed to these pollutants more so than persons living at a greater distance, even compared to living on busy urban streets. Evidence of the health hazards of these pollutants arises from studies that assess proximity to highways, actual exposure to the pollutants, or both. Taken as a whole, the health studies show elevated risk for development of asthma and reduced lung function in children who live near major highways. Studies of particulate matter (PM) that show associations with cardiac and pulmonary mortality also appear to indicate increasing risk as smaller geographic areas are studied, suggesting localized sources that likely include major highways. Although less work has tested the association between lung cancer and highways, the existing studies suggest an association as well. While the evidence is substantial for a link between near-highway exposures and adverse health outcomes, considerable work remains to understand the exact nature and magnitude of the risks.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Iyad Kheirbek: ikheirbe@health.nyc.gov

Jay Haney: Jay.Haney@icfi.com

Sharon Douglas: Sharon.Douglas@icfi.com

Kazuhiko Ito: kito1@health.nyc.gov

Thomas Matte: tmatte@health.nyc.gov

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Environ Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Environ Health

Title: Environmental Health

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1476-069X

Publication date (Electronic): 26 August 2016

Publication date PMC-release: 26 August 2016

Publication date Collection: 2016

Volume: 15

Issue: 1

Electronic Location Identifier: 89

Affiliations

[1 ]New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Policy, 125 Worth Street, Third Flr. CN-34E, New York, NY 10013 USA

[2 ]ICF International, 101 Lucas Valley Road, Suite 260, San Rafael, CA 94903 USA

Article

Publisher ID: 172

DOI: 10.1186/s12940-016-0172-6

PMC ID: 5002106

PubMed ID: 27566439

SO-VID: 0db4125f-4be3-497a-8324-41da65ce0823

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 16 March 2016

Date accepted : 12 August 2016

Funding

Funded by: New York City tax levy funds

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health

Keywords: fine particulate matter (pm2.5),community multiscale air quality model (cmaq),benmap,traffic,health impact assessment,air quality management

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health

Keywords: fine particulate matter (pm2.5), community multiscale air quality model (cmaq), benmap, traffic, health impact assessment, air quality management

The contribution of motor vehicle emissions to ambient fine particulate matter public health impacts in New York City: a health burden assessment

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Most cited references 25

Air Pollution and Individual and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Impact of changes in transportation and commuting behaviors during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta on air quality and childhood asthma.

Near-highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks

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