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EPA NW Research
Center for Particulate Air Pollution and Health
Newsletter Spring/Summer 2000
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The US Environmental Protection Agency established the
University of Washington/EPA Northwest Research Center for Particulate
Air Pollution and Health last summer. It is one of five centers
in the country created to study the effects of particulate air pollution
on human health.
 The
center brings together scientists from the departments of Atmospheric
Sciences, Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Civil and Environmental
sEngineering, and Epidemiology at the University of Washington (UW);
the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington
State University; and the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies
in Alaska.
One multidisciplinary team of scientists is examining health
effects related to particulate matter (PM) air pollution, including
relationships among ambient air quality, population exposures,
and individual exposures. Their goal is to provide information
crucial to understanding and preventing PM associated health effects.
Other researchers are studying mechanisms of PM toxicity and potential
biomarkers.
This inaugural edition of our newsletter marks our first ten
months of work and describes our ongoing research.
The UW center's research, together with that of other
groups around the world, will contribute to decisions about air
quality standards and to the understanding of how we are affected
by the air we breathe.
-Jane Q. Koenig, PhD, program director
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A
perspective from the field
Although the Puget Sound area's air is relatively clean
when compared with other parts of the country, there are signs that
the public health is not being sufficiently protected. Asthma is
on the rise, and there are disturbing epidemiological findings of
associations between asthma outcomes and daily air pollution.
The PM Center at the UW is of critical importance to the
Pacific Northwest. Fine-particle concentrations in the region are
high enough that correlations have been established with health
indicators and clear views of our spectacular scenery have been
compromised.
Projects proposed by the PM Center will clarify and extend
our knowledge of relationships between PM levels and health. Proposed
studies will provide additional information on particle characteristics
that will help us determine which particles and which sources are
the major environmental stressors.
This knowledge, in turn, will provide the basis for developing
and prioritizing fine-particle reduction strategies that, when implemented,
will be effective in reducing the associated morbidity and mortality
- as well as the visibility degradation - sthat concern us.
-Naydene Maykut, Senior
Air Quality Scientist, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
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| The
association between air pollution and peak expiratory flow in asthmatics
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Therese Mar, Jane Koenig, Tim Larson,
Lianne Sheppard, Robert Stier, Candis Claiborn
This panel diary study of adults with asthma showed associations
between particulate matter less than 10 micrometers (PM10),
reductions in peak expiratory flow (PEF), and increases in respiratory
symptoms in people with asthma. Sixteen adults in Spokane, Washington,
kept diaries from 1997-1999, recording their PEF, symptoms (shortness
of breath, cough, sputum, wheezing), and medication use. Peak expiratory
flow was measured with a peak flow smonitor.
Meanwhile, researchers monitored the air in Spokane to collect
data on PM concentration, size, and composition; carbon monoxide (CO);
and total carbon.
A preliminary analysis of 13 subjects showed a significant association
between PM air pollution and decreases in peak expiratory flow. Preliminary
results suggest that chemical analysis of the carbon constituents of PM
may provide important information on the mechanisms of PM toxicity.
It is difficult to interpret the association between CO and
peak flow decrease in subjects with asthma. Further study will be needed
to assess whether CO is acting as a surrogate for other combustion-related
products or has a direct effect on peak flow.
Funding was provided by grants from the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), the Spokane PM Health Effects Study funded by the Washington State
Department of Ecology, the American Lung Association of Washington, and
the PM Center grant.
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| Particulate
matter exposure assessment for compromised elderly adults |
Michael Box, Sally Liu
- This paper is part of a three-year
exposure assessment examining the PM exposures and health effects in
individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular
diseases. Forty-six COPD patients and healthy controls in the Seattle
area participated in monitoring sessions last fall and winter. Personal,
indoor, and outdoor PM10, PM2.5 and CO were monitored
for 10 consecutive days for each subject. Particulate matter was measured
at personal, indoor, outdoor, and central locations.
- Average daily PM2.5 outside
the individual home was significantly correlated with PM2.5 measured
at the central site. The home indoor and outdoor levels of
- PM2.5 were also correlated.
However, personal exposures to PM2.5 were poorly correlated
with indoor PM2.5. Preliminary results indicate that indoor
CO was significantly correlated with the average fixed site CO concentrations.
- Additional study will seek correlations
between particulate matter, CO, and health effects.
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| News, Events,
& Publications |
A recent scientific
study linking particulate matter (PM) exposure to heart irregularities
in animals already suffering from heart disease has caught the attention
of EPA officials who note that, if replicated, such research may fill
an important data gap.1
The UW/EPA PM Center is investigating cardiac effects in mice susceptible
to heart disease.
New data suggest
that exposure to PM (or associated air pollutants) early in pregnancy
may adversely affect fetal growth, although biologic mechanisms remain
to be explained. 2
More
than 125,000 Americans may develop lung cancer in the next several years
from diesel exhaust from trucks, buses and other vehicles. Those findings
are in a report from the State and Territorial Air Pollution Program
Adminis-trators and Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials,
entitled "Cancer risk from diesel particulate: National and metropolitan
area estimates for the United States." 3
The
EPA has decided to reduce sharply the level of sulfur allowed in diesel
fuel, calling diesel emissions an important health hazard. A new rule
is expected to be announced in a few months. 4
A
new report about health concerns around Sea-Tac Airport says an air-monitoring
program would be the best way to learn whether jets are polluting the
air in nearby communities. The report was released April 3 by the state
Department of Health, state Department of Ecology, and Public Health-Seattle
and King County. 5
1
Risk Policy Report (3), March 20, 2000, p. 20
2 Bobak M. Environ Health Perspect 2000 Feb;108(2):173-6
3 Health and Environmental News, March 20, 2000
4 New York Times, March 15, 2000, p. A14.
5 http://www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2000_News/00-34.html
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| Events |
July 19-20, 1999
first EPA PM Center directors meeting at NYU
August 1999
visit by Gunter Oberdorster, director, Univ. of Rochester PM Center
October 6, 1999
first external Science Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting at UW
October 1999
visit by Mort Lippmann, director of NYU PM Center
November 18-19, 1999
visit by William Wilson, US EPA
January 13, 2000
visit and seminar by George Leikauf, University of Cincinnati
May 16, 2000
Seattle Air Monitor Siting Workshop
May 25, 2000
visit and seminar by Rob McConnell, USC (UCLA/USC PM Center investigator)
June 1, 2000
visit and seminar by Dan Costa, US EPA
June 16, 2000
second annual external SAC meeting
July 20-21, 2000
second annual EPA PM Center directors meeting at the UW/EPA PM Center
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| Products |
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Publications
Mar TF, Norris GA, Koenig JQ, Larson TV.
Associations between air pollution and mortality in Phoenix, 1995-1997.
Environ Health Perspect 2000;108:347-353.
Norris G, YoungPong SN, Koenig JQ, Larson TV, Sheppard L, Stout
JW.
An association between fine particles and asthma emergency department
visits for children in Seattle. Environ Health Perspect 1999; 107: 489-493.
Norris G, Larson TV, Koenig J, Claiborn C, Sheppard L, Finn
D.
Asthma aggravation, combustion and stagnant air. Thorax 2000; in press.
Sheppard L, Kaufman J.
Sorting out the role of air pollution on asthma incidence. Epidemiology
2000; 11:100‹101.
Presentations At January'ss PM2000 conference in Charleston,
South Carolina, center researchers described preliminary results of:
- air pollution and sudden cardiac
death
- ongoing exposure assessment studies
- improved case-crossover study
methods
- peak flow decrements in adults
with asthma
- increased symptoms in children
with asthma.
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| Where
to find us |
EPA Northwest Research Center for
Particulate Air Pollution and Health
1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 355
University of Washington, Box 354803
Seattle, WA 98105
Director: Jane Koenig, PhD
Phone: (206) 543-2026
E-mail:
jkoenig@u.washington.edu
Manager: Sandra Larsen
Phone: (206) 616-6570 Fax: (206) 616-6528
E-mail: sundance@u.washington.edu
Web sites: http://depts.washington.edu/pmcenter/
http://depts.washington.edu/envhlth/
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| The PM
team |
Lead Investigators come from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(LBL), the University of Alaska (UA), University of Washington (UW), and
Washington State University (WSU). About half of the project leads are
affiliated with the UW Department of Environmental Health (DEH).
Jane Q. Koenig, PhD, UW DEH (director)
David A. Kalman, PhD, UW DEH (deputy director)
Harvey Checkoway, PhD, UW DEH and Epidemiology
Candis Claiborn, PhD, WSU Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
David Covert, PhD, UW Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences
Mary Ellen Gordian, PhD, UA Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies
Lara Gundel, PhD, LBL
Joel Kaufman, MD, MPH, UW DEH and Medicine
Timothy Larson, PhD, UW Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
L-J Sally Liu, SD, UW DEH
Daniel L. Luchtel, PhD, UW DEH
Thomas Lumley, PhD, UW Biostatistics
Lianne Sheppard, PhD, UW Biostatistics and DEH
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