scholarly journals The Neighborhood Effect Averaging Problem (NEAP): An Elusive Confounder of the Neighborhood Effect

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-Po Kwan
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Neighborhood Effect ◽  
Daily Mobility ◽  
Averaging Problem ◽  
People’S Daily ◽  
People's Daily

Ignoring people’s daily mobility and exposures to nonresidential contexts may lead to erroneous results in epidemiological studies of people’s exposures to and the health impact of environmental factors. This paper identifies and describes a phenomenon called neighborhood effect averaging, which may significantly confound the neighborhood effect as a result of such neglect when examining the health impact of mobility-dependent exposures (e.g., air pollution). Several recent studies that provide strong evidence for the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP) are discussed. The paper concludes that, due to the observed attenuation of the neighborhood effect associated with people’s daily mobility, increasing the mobility of those who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods may be helpful for improving their health outcomes.

scholarly journals Who Could Not Avoid Exposure to High Levels of Residence-Based Pollution by Daily Mobility? Evidence of Air Pollution Exposure from the Perspective of the Neighborhood Effect Averaging Problem (NEAP)

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinlin Ma ◽  
Xijing Li ◽  
Mei-Po Kwan ◽  
Yanwei Chai
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Neighborhood Effect ◽  
Daily Mobility ◽  
Averaging Problem ◽  
Air Pollution Exposure ◽  
High Pollution ◽  
Pollution Exposure

It has been widely acknowledged that air pollution has a considerable adverse impact on people’s health. Disadvantaged groups such as low-income people are often found to experience greater negative effects of environmental pollution. Thus, improving the accuracy of air pollution exposure assessment might be essential to policy-making. Recently, the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP) has been identified as a specific form of possible bias when assessing individual exposure to air pollution and its health impacts. In this paper, we assessed the real-time air pollution exposure and residential-based exposure of 106 participants in a high-pollution community in Beijing, China. The study found that: (1) there are significant differences between the two assessments; (2) most participants experienced the NEAP and could lower their exposure by their daily mobility; (3) three vulnerable groups with low daily mobility and could not avoid the high pollution in their residential neighborhoods were identified as exceptions to this: low-income people who have low levels of daily mobility and limited travel outside their residential neighborhoods, blue-collar workers who spend long hours at low-end workplaces, and elderly people who face many household constraints. Public policies thus need to focus on the hidden environmental injustice revealed by the NEAP in order to improve the well-being of these environmentally vulnerable groups.

Air Pollution Neurotoxicity in the Adult Brain: Emerging Concepts from Experimental Findings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Haghani ◽  
Todd E. Morgan ◽  
Henry Jay Forman ◽  
Caleb E. Finch
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Brain Aging ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Aging Conditions ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Underlying Diseases

Epidemiological studies are associating elevated exposure to air pollution with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In effect, air pollution accelerates many aging conditions that promote cognitive declines of aging. The underlying mechanisms and scale of effects remain largely unknown due to its chemical and physical complexity. Moreover, individual responses to air pollution are shaped by an intricate interface of pollutant mixture with the biological features of the exposed individual such as age, sex, genetic background, underlying diseases, and nutrition, but also other environmental factors including exposure to cigarette smoke. Resolving this complex manifold requires more detailed environmental and lifestyle data on diverse populations, and a systematic experimental approach. Our review aims to summarize the modest existing literature on experimental studies on air pollution neurotoxicity for adult rodents and identify key gaps and emerging challenges as we go forward. It is timely for experimental biologists to critically understand prior findings and develop innovative approaches to this urgent global problem. We hope to increase recognition of the importance of air pollution on brain aging by our colleagues in the neurosciences and in biomedical gerontology, and to support the immediate translation of the findings into public health guidelines for the regulation of remedial environmental factors that accelerate aging processes.

scholarly journals Using epidemiology to estimate the impact and burden of exposure to air pollutants

2020 ◽  
Vol 378 (2183) ◽  
pp. 20190321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison M. Gowers ◽  
Heather Walton ◽  
Karen S. Exley ◽  
J. Fintan Hurley
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Particulate Air Pollution ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
The Impact

This paper focuses on the use of results of epidemiological studies to quantify the effects on health, particularly on mortality, of long-term exposure to air pollutants. It introduces health impact assessment methods, used to predict the benefits that can be expected from implementation of interventions to reduce emissions of pollutants. It also explains the estimation of annual mortality burdens attributable to current levels of pollution. Burden estimates are intended to meet the need to communicate the size of the effect of air pollution on public health to policy makers and others. The implications, for the interpretation of the estimates, of the assumptions and approximations underlying the methods are discussed. The paper starts with quantification based on results obtained from studies of the association of mortality risk with long-term average concentrations of particulate air pollution. It then tackles the additional methodological considerations that need to be addressed when also considering the mortality effects of other pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). Finally, approaches that could be used to integrate morbidity and mortality endpoints in the same assessment are touched upon. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Air quality, past present and future’.

AWARENESS ABOUT INDOOR AIR POLLUTION IN GENERAL POPULATION OF RAWALPINDI AND ISLAMABAD

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-83
Author(s):  
Nadia Tariq ◽  
Tamkeen Jaffry ◽  
Rahma Fiaz ◽  
Abdul Majid Rajput ◽  
Sadaf Khalid
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
General Population ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Air Pollution ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Educational Status ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Significant Difference

Background: Indoor air pollutants are increasingly being associated with respiratory illnesses leading to high degree of morbidity and mortality. There are not sufficient epidemiological studies from Pakistan which assess level of awareness of indoor air pollution resulting in respiratory diseases in population. Methods: This cross sectional survey was carried out on general population of Rawalpindi/Islamabad. Sample size was 223 study subjects selected by non-probability convenient sampling. Knowledge of the study subjects was determined with regard to indoor air pollution, its effects on health and different sources of indoor air pollution with the help of a questionnaire. The influence of age, gender, educational status and socio economic status on the level of awareness was also analyzed. Results: Out of total 223 participants, 115 were males and108 females. Participants aware of indoor air pollution were 91.5% and adequate awareness about its sources was 80.7%. Those who knew indoor air pollution is detrimental to health were 95.1%. Awareness about building construction dust as source of indoor air pollution was maximum (84.8%). There was significant difference in awareness among participants with different monthly incomes and educational status and also between males and females. Conclusion: This study concludes that general population of Rawalpindi/Islamabad has fairly good awareness about sources of indoor air pollution. Use of harmful material causing indoor air pollution should be limited or substituted with better ones where possible.

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