Use of an index to reflect the aggregate burden of long-term exposure to criteria air pollutants in the United States.

Abstract

Air pollution control in the United States for five common pollutants-particulate matter, ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide-is based partly on the attainment of ambient air quality standards that represent a level of air pollution regarded as safe. Regulatory and health agencies often focus on whether standards for short periods are attained; the number of days that standards are exceeded is used to track progress. Efforts to explain air pollution to the public often incorporate an air quality index that represents daily concentrations of pollutants. While effects of short-term exposures have been emphasized, research shows that long-term exposures to lower concentrations of air pollutants can also result in adverse health effects. We developed an aggregate index that represents long-term exposure to these pollutants, using 1995 monitoring data for metropolitan areas obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Aerometric Information Retrieval System. We compared the ranking of metropolitan areas under the proposed aggregate index with the ranking of areas by the number of days that short-term standards were exceeded. The geographic areas with the highest burden of long-term exposures are not, in all cases, the same as those with the most days that exceeded a short-term standard. We believe that an aggregate index of long-term air pollution offers an informative addition to the principal approaches currently used to describe air pollution exposures; further work on an aggregate index representing long-term exposure to air pollutants is warranted.

Disparities in exposure to air pollution during pregnancy.

“…A brief description of the index, which we have modified slightly here, is given in this article. The index is more fully described elsewhere (Kyle et al 2002). The county-based index of long-term exposure to air pollution is created by dividing the annual average of the measured values for each pollutant by the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for that pollutant (Kyle et al 2002).…”

“…The index is more fully described elsewhere (Kyle et al 2002). The county-based index of long-term exposure to air pollution is created by dividing the annual average of the measured values for each pollutant by the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for that pollutant (Kyle et al 2002). The ratios for each pollutant (the annual concentration divided by the value for the appropriate standard) were scaled to a five-point scale and then averaged together to generate an index value representing the net burden of these five pollutants over 1 year, with each weighted equally.…”

Air Quality and Urban Form in U.S. Urban Areas: Evidence from Regulatory Monitors

“…In addition to the individual pollutants, we assess the influence of urban form on an aggregate measure of air pollution using the long-term air quality index (LAQI; Table 1). 27 For comparison, we also generated a year-2000 ozone model; results are consistent with the year-1990 ozone model (see SI) and so are omitted here.…”

Aerosol chemical and optical properties over the Paris area within ESQUIF project

“…Such models are used in various applications: The assessment of air pollution impacts and the elaboration of air management policies (Kyle et al, 2002), as well as routine daily forecasts. The performance and limits of aerosol modes still need to be evaluated.…”