Breathless in Los Angeles: The Exhausting Search for Clean Air

Künzli, Nino; McConnell, Rob; Bates, David V.; Bastain, Tracy; Hricko, Andrea; Lurmann, Fred; Avol, Edward L.; Gilliland, Frank D.; Peters, John

doi:10.2105/ajph.93.9.1494

Cited by 80 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Air pollution in the Los Angeles area historically has been among the highest in the United States, partly due to traffic emissions in the area (43). Consistent with this, our study showed that this area has the highest MGC EPI scores in California.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Disaggregating Data on Asian American and Pacific Islander Women to Provide New Insights on Potential Exposures to Hazardous Air Pollutants in California

Quach¹,

Liu²,

Nelson³

et al. 2014

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Amp; Prevention

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Background: The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) population is heterogeneous and rapidly growing in the United States, with a high proportion concentrated in California. Although traditionally assumed to have lower rates of breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women, recent studies have suggested considerable variation in incidence by AAPI ethnic group, with rates in some exceeding those in non-Hispanic whites. The potential role of environmental toxicants has not been well explored and may provide insights into these patterns.Methods: We created an exposure potential index (EPI) score for 24 hazardous air pollutants modeled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment considered to be mammary gland carcinogens, and compared values at the census tract level for "geographically concentrated" AAPI groups throughout the State. "Geographically concentrated" populations were defined as census tracts with at least 100 individuals from a specified racial/ethnic population as enumerated by the 2000 Census.Results: Although EPI scores differed little between census tracts with aggregated AAPI (mean EPI ¼ 0.53) and non-Hispanic white women (mean EPI ¼ 0.63), there was substantial variation between tracts for disaggregated AAPI groups, with notably higher EPI scores for tracts enumerated for Korean or Japanese women (mean EPI of 0.78 and 0.77, respectively) compared with other AAPI groups.Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of disaggregating data for the heterogeneous AAPI population to identify differences in potential environmental exposures across groups.Impact: Future cancer etiology studies should examine environmental exposure differences within and across groups for the diverse AAPI population. See all the articles in this CEBP Focus section, "Cancer in Asian and Pacific Islander Populations." Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 23(11); 2218-28. Ó2014 AACR.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Disaggregating Data on Asian American and Pacific Islander Women to Provide New Insights on Potential Exposures to Hazardous Air Pollutants in California

Quach¹,

Liu²,

Nelson³

et al. 2014

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Amp; Prevention

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“…Eight sites were examined in this study, six within the Los Angeles Basin (LAB): Long Beach, Mira Loma, Upland, Riverside, Lake Arrowhead and USC; and two sites at other areas of Southern California: Alpine and Lancaster (as shown in Figure 1). Selection of the sampling sites, discussed in greater detail by Ku¨nzli et al (2003), was made on the basis of their location within the LAB and the presumed contrasting air quality (hence exposure) regimes in terms of PM and gaseous copollutants, which have differentially affected children's health.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and spatial trends in particle number concentrations and size distributions at the children's health study sites in Southern California

Singh

Phuleria

Bowers

et al. 2005

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

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“…35 The five sites selected for the current analysis are Long Beach, Glendora, Mira Loma, Upland, and Riverside. The choice of sampling sites considered in this study is based on their location within the Los Angeles Basin as well as the adverse health outcomes observed at these sites 36 attributed to air pollution. Kunzli et al 36 have studied these sites as part of the CHS investigating the long-term consequences of air pollution on the health of children.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between Particle Number and Gaseous Co-Pollutant Concentrations in the Los Angeles Basin

Sardar

Fine

Yoon

et al. 2004

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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Continuous measurements of particle number (PN), particle mass (PM 10 ), and gaseous pollutants [carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), oxides of nitrogen (NO x ), and ozone (O 3 )] were performed at five urban sites in the Los Angeles Basin to support the University of Southern California Children's Health Study in 2002. The degree of correlation between hourly PN and concentrations of CO, NO, and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) at each site over the entire year was generally low to moderate (r values in the range of 0.1-0.5), with a few notable exceptions. In general, associations between PN and O 3 were either negative or insignificant. Similar analyses of seasonal data resulted in levels of correlation with large variation, ranging from 0.0 to 0.94 depending on site and season. Summertime data showed a generally higher correlation between the 24-hr average PN concentrations and CO, NO, and NO 2 than corresponding hourly concentrations. Hourly correlations between PN and both CO and NO were strengthened during morning rush-hour periods, indicating a common vehicular source. Comparing hourly particle number concentrations between sites also showed low to moderate spatial correlations, with most correlation coefficients below 0.4. Given the low to moderate associations found in this study, gaseous co-pollutants should not be used as surrogates to assess human exposure to airborne particle number concentrations. INTRODUCTIONRecent research has demonstrated that numerous adverse health outcomes are associated with atmospheric particulate matter (PM). Epidemiologic studies have shown significant relationships between ambient PM and respiratoryrelated mortality and morbidity. 1,2 The observed effects are even more significant in susceptible populations, such as the elderly, with pre-existing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. 3 Toxicological studies by Oberdorster 4 and Donaldson et al. 5 have concluded that ultrafine particles (particles with diameters less than ϳ100 nm) are comparatively more toxic than larger particles with identical chemical composition and mass. Because of their small size, ultrafine particles contribute very little to the overall PM mass but comprise a significant majority of the number of airborne particles in the atmosphere. 3,6 It is still unknown whether the observed PM health effects are related to particle number (PN), particle surface area, particle mass, or particle chemical composition. Studies on rodents show that inflammatory response is more prominent when ultrafine particles are administered compared with larger particles, 3 suggesting either a particle number or surface area effect. Toxicological studies also have shown that ultrafine particles have higher oxidative stress potential and can penetrate and destroy mitochondria within epithelial cells. 7 Penttinen et al. 8 tested the hypothesis that high numbers of ultrafine particles in the atmosphere can induce alveolar inflammation and exacerbation of pre-existing cardiopulmonary diseases. They found that daily mean num...

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Breathless in Los Angeles: The Exhausting Search for Clean Air

Cited by 80 publications

References 47 publications

Disaggregating Data on Asian American and Pacific Islander Women to Provide New Insights on Potential Exposures to Hazardous Air Pollutants in California

Disaggregating Data on Asian American and Pacific Islander Women to Provide New Insights on Potential Exposures to Hazardous Air Pollutants in California

Seasonal and spatial trends in particle number concentrations and size distributions at the children's health study sites in Southern California

Associations between Particle Number and Gaseous Co-Pollutant Concentrations in the Los Angeles Basin

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