{"id":8735,"date":"2019-04-29T10:28:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=8735"},"modified":"2019-04-29T10:41:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:41:16","slug":"traffic-pollution-causes-1-in-5-new-cases-of-kids-asthma-in-major-cities-how-data-can-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2019\/04\/29\/traffic-pollution-causes-1-in-5-new-cases-of-kids-asthma-in-major-cities-how-data-can-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Traffic pollution causes 1 in 5 new cases of kids’ asthma in major cities: How data can help"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ananya Roy<\/a>\u00a0is a Senior Health Scientist<\/p>\n

[pullquote]<\/p>\n

City leadership can ill afford to ignore this issue and must strive for opportunities to prevent new cases of asthma.<\/p>\n

[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n

A\u00a0landmark new study<\/a> shines a light on the massive impact of vehicular air pollution on the health of our children. The study estimates that nitrogen dioxide (NO2<\/sub>) \u2013 a key traffic air pollutant<\/a> \u2013 leads to approximately 4 million new asthma cases in children across the globe, or 1 in 10 new cases.<\/p>\n

To address this pervasive threat, leaders need local data to create targeted approaches and policies. That\u2019s why Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is leveraging sensor technology<\/a> to develop novel methods to measure and map air pollution \u2013 including NO2<\/sub> concentrations \u2013 block by block in cities across the world, from Oakland to Houston to London.<\/p>\n

Cities bear the worst burden<\/strong><\/p>\n

The study, released this month in The Lancet Planetary Health, finds that children living in cities are most at risk of asthma due to NO2<\/sub> pollution. A staggering 90% of all new cases due to traffic were in urban and adjoining suburban areas.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cities with unbridled growth in traffic and high population exposures to NO2<\/sub> \u2013 such as Beijing, Lima, Bogota and \u2013 are among the most affected. But this problem is not restricted to the rapidly-expanding metropolises in lower and middle income countries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Source: Public dataset from Achakulwisut et al The Lancet Planetary Health 2019*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In wealthy cities like London, New York and Houston, NO2<\/sub> contributed to more than 1 in 5 of all new cases of asthma among children. And these cities are already overburdened by asthma. In New York<\/a> and London<\/a> respectively there are 84,000 and 240, 000 children living with asthma. It is the leading cause of chronic health problems among children and asthma costs the US economy $81 billion a year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

City leadership can ill afford to ignore this issue and must strive for opportunities to prevent new cases of asthma.<\/p>\n

Data can drive solutions across cities<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPrevious global estimates of impacts of air pollution have not adequately accounted for the impact of traffic because they didn\u2019t capture high near roadway exposures. Our study estimating the impacts of NO2<\/sub> on pediatric asthma was the first to resolve high concentrations near roadways, allowing us to see the impact on children in cities. Yet uncertainties remain,\u201d<\/em> said Susan Anenberg, associate professor of environmental and occupational health at Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University and the paper\u2019s senior author.<\/p>\n

NO2<\/sub> concentrations change dramatically street by street and block by block, with the variation influenced by intensity of traffic, congestion, and types of vehicles on the streets. The Lancet study uses state-of-the-art modelling techniques with information from satellites, geographic variables and regulatory monitors, but still was able to only partially capture the distribution of NO2<\/sub> exposures.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>I think there is huge opportunity for mobile monitoring and new citizen science monitoring data. Our global estimates should be seen as a starting point for documenting within city traffic air pollution concentrations. Highlighting local hotspots, unique local sources, temporal variation in levels, and additional traffic-related air pollutants would be important contributions,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said Dr. Perry Hystad, one of the authors of the study.<\/p>\n

City and transportation planners require detailed information on where pollution hotspots are in their cities. EDF\u2019s efforts to measure and map exposure to air pollution where people live work and play can help.<\/p>\n

Oakland insights<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, the insights EDF gathered from hyperlocal monitoring<\/a> proved critical to understanding pollution in West Oakland, CA. Sandwiched between two highways and a major container port, this neighborhood\u2019s rate of emergency room visits due to asthma is more than double the state average. Almost 25 percent of the student body in the West Oakland Middle School has asthma or other breathing problems.<\/p>\n

EDF\u2019s advanced air-pollution sensors found that NO2<\/sub> levels within neighborhoods varied by more than 8 times from block to block. Some of the areas with elevated levels were truck routes or abutted businesses that attracted trucks. Community advocates are now working with regulators and city officials to investigate areas of elevated pollution identified using our data and put in place mitigation strategies, such as increased enforcement of truck prohibited routes.<\/p>\n

Policies and actions that address transportation can have synergistic benefits, from reducing traffic and air pollution to improving health and the climate. Cities are taking the lead in this issue, including London\u2019s newly launched Ultra Low Emission Zone<\/a> and congestion pricing in New York City<\/a> \u2013 policies that will help cut traffic emissions and clean the air.<\/p>\n

With better and more accurate data, cities and leaders can go further and design targeted policies to maximize benefits, building healthier communities for everyone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Public dataset available at:\u00a0http:\/\/www.thelancet-press.com\/embargo\/pollutionasthma.xlsx<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Ananya Roy\u00a0is a Senior Health Scientist [pullquote] City leadership can ill afford to ignore this issue and must strive for opportunities to prevent new cases of asthma. [\/pullquote] A\u00a0landmark new study shines a light on the massive impact of vehicular air pollution on the health of our children. The study estimates that nitrogen dioxide …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125866,"featured_media":8737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114080,5009,114116,39263],"tags":[7972,107211,113923],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-8735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-pollution","category-health-science","category-hyperlocal-mapping","category-public-health","tag-air-pollution","tag-hyperlocal-mapping","tag-traffic-pollution"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125866"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8735"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}