98
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    1
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      A Growing Role for Gender Analysis in Air Pollution Epidemiology

      review-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Objective

          Epidemiologic studies of air pollution effects on respiratory health report significant modification by sex, although results are not uniform. Importantly, it remains unclear whether modifications are attributable to socially derived gendered exposures, to sex-linked physiological differences, or to some interplay thereof. Gender analysis, which aims to disaggregate social from biological differences between males and females, may help to elucidate these possible sources of effect modification.

          Data sources and data extraction

          A PubMed literature search was performed in July 2009, using the terms “respiratory” and any of “sex” or “gender” or “men and women” or “boys and girls” and either “PM 2.5” (particulate matter ≥ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter) or “NO 2” (nitrogen dioxide). I reviewed the identified studies, and others cited therein, to summarize current evidence of effect modification, with attention to authors’ interpretation of observed differences. Owing to broad differences in exposure mixes, outcomes, and analytic techniques, with few studies examining any given combination thereof, meta-analysis was not deemed appropriate at this time.

          Data synthesis

          More studies of adults report stronger effects among women, particularly for older persons or where using residential exposure assessment. Studies of children suggest stronger effects among boys in early life and among girls in later childhood.

          Conclusions

          The qualitative review describes possible sources of difference in air pollution response between women and men, which may vary by life stage, coexposures, hormonal status, or other factors. The sources of observed effect modifications remain unclear, although gender analytic approaches may help to disentangle gender and sex differences in pollution response. A framework for incorporating gender analysis into environmental epidemiology is offered, along with several potentially useful methods from gender analysis.

          Related collections

          Most cited references113

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Results of multivariable logistic regression, propensity matching, propensity adjustment, and propensity-based weighting under conditions of nonuniform effect.

          Observational studies often provide the only available information about treatment effects. Control of confounding, however, remains challenging. The authors compared five methods for evaluating the effect of tissue plasminogen activator on death among 6,269 ischemic stroke patients registered in a German stroke registry: multivariable logistic regression, propensity score-matched analysis, regression adjustment with the propensity score, and two propensity score-based weighted methods-one estimating the treatment effect in the entire study population (inverse-probability-of-treatment weights), another in the treated population (standardized-mortality-ratio weights). Between 2000 and 2001, 212 patients received tissue plasminogen activator. The crude odds ratio between tissue plasminogen activator and death was 3.35 (95% confidence interval: 2.28, 4.91). The adjusted odds ratio depended strongly on the adjustment method, ranging from 1.11 (95% confidence interval: 0.67, 1.84) for the standardized-mortality-ratio weighted to 10.77 (95% confidence interval: 2.47, 47.04) for the inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighted analysis. For treated patients with a low propensity score, risks of dying were high. Exclusion of patients with a propensity score of <5% yielded comparable odds ratios of approximately 1 for all methods. High levels of nonuniform treatment effect render summary estimates very sensitive to the weighting system explicit or implicit in an adjustment technique. Researchers need to be clear about the population for which an overall treatment estimate is most suitable.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Health, wealth, and air pollution: advancing theory and methods.

            The effects of both ambient air pollution and socioeconomic position (SEP) on health are well documented. A limited number of recent studies suggest that SEP may itself play a role in the epidemiology of disease and death associated with exposure to air pollution. Together with evidence that poor and working-class communities are often more exposed to air pollution, these studies have stimulated discussion among scientists, policy makers, and the public about the differential distribution of the health impacts from air pollution. Science and public policy would benefit from additional research that integrates the theory and practice from both air pollution and social epidemiologies to gain a better understanding of this issue. In this article we aim to promote such research by introducing readers to methodologic and conceptual approaches in the fields of air pollution and social epidemiology; by proposing theories and hypotheses about how air pollution and socioeconomic factors may interact to influence health, drawing on studies conducted worldwide; by discussing methodologic issues in the design and analysis of studies to determine whether health effects of exposure to ambient air pollution are modified by SEP; and by proposing specific steps that will advance knowledge in this field, fill information gaps, and apply research results to improve public health in collaboration with affected communities.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Gender differences in airway behaviour over the human life span.

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Environ Health Perspect
                Environmental Health Perspectives
                National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
                0091-6765
                1552-9924
                February 2010
                16 October 2009
                : 118
                : 2
                : 167-176
                Affiliations
                Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
                Author notes
                Address correspondence to J.E. Clougherty, Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Landmark Building, 4th Floor West, 401 Park Dr., Boston, MA 02215 USA. Telephone: (617) 816-7717. Fax: (202) 442-2642. E-mail: jcloughe@ 123456hsph.harvard.edu

                The author declares she has no competing financial interests.

                Article
                ehp-118-167
                10.1289/ehp.0900994
                2831913
                20123621
                200143c8-10d7-4f2b-b036-01bc6a552531
                This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original DOI.
                History
                : 17 May 2009
                : 16 October 2009
                Categories
                Review

                Public health
                gender,air pollution,effect modification,epidemiology,sex
                Public health
                gender, air pollution, effect modification, epidemiology, sex

                Comments

                Comment on this article