Indoor Air Sources of Outdoor Air Pollution: Health Consequences, Policy, and Recommendations: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report.

Indoor sources of air pollution worsen indoor and outdoor air quality. Thus, identifying and reducing indoor pollutant sources would decrease both indoor and outdoor air pollution, benefit public health, and help address the climate crisis. As outdoor sources come under regulatory control, unregulated indoor sources become a rising percentage of the problem. This American Thoracic Society workshop was convened in 2022 to evaluate this increasing proportion of indoor contributions to outdoor air quality. The workshop was conducted by physicians and scientists, including atmospheric and aerosol scientists, environmental engineers, toxicologists, epidemiologists, regulatory policy experts, and pediatric and adult pulmonologists. Presentations and discussion sessions were centered on 1) the generation and migration of pollutants from indoors to outdoors, 2) the sources and circumstances representing the greatest threat, and 3) effective remedies to reduce the health burden of indoor sources of air pollution. The scope of the workshop was residential and commercial sources of indoor air pollution in the United States. Topics included wood burning, natural gas, cooking, evaporative volatile organic compounds, source apportionment, and regulatory policy. The workshop concluded that indoor sources of air pollution are significant contributors to outdoor air quality and that source control and filtration are the most effective measures to reduce indoor contributions to outdoor air. Interventions should prioritize environmental justice: Households of lower socioeconomic status have higher concentrations of indoor air pollutants from both indoor and outdoor sources. We identify research priorities, potential health benefits, and mitigation actions to consider (e.g., switching from natural gas to electric stoves and transitioning to scent-free consumer products). The workshop committee emphasizes the benefits of combustion-free homes and businesses and recommends economic, legislative, and education strategies aimed at achieving this goal.

Adverse Health Impacts of Outdoor Air Pollution, Including from Wildland Fires, in the United States: "Health of the Air," 2018-2020.

Rationale: Adverse health impacts from outdoor air pollution occur across the United States, but the magnitude of these impacts varies widely by geographic region. Ambient pollutant concentrations, emission sources, baseline health conditions, and population sizes and distributions are all important factors that need to be taken into account to quantify local health burdens. Objectives: To determine health impacts from ambient air pollution concentrations in the United States that exceed the levels recommended by the American Thoracic Society. Methods: Using a methodology that has been well established in previous "Health of the Air" reports, this study provides policy-relevant estimates for every monitored county and city in the United States for the adverse health impacts of outdoor pollution concentrations using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency design values for years 2018-2020. Additionally, for the first time, the report includes adverse birth outcomes as well as estimates of health impacts specifically attributable to wildland fires using an exposure dataset generated through Community Multiscale Air Quality simulations. Results: The adverse health burdens attributable to air pollution occur across the entire age spectrum, including adverse birth outcomes (10,660 preterm and/or low-weight births; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3,180-18,330), in addition to mortality impacts (21,300 avoidable deaths; 95% CI, 16,180-26,200), lung cancer incidence (3,000 new cases; 95% CI, 1,550-4,390), multiple types of cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity (748,660 events; 95% CI, 326,050-1,057,080), and adversely impacted days (52.4 million days; 95% CI, 7.9-92.4 million days). Two different estimates of mortality impacts from wildland fires were created based on assumptions regarding the underlying toxicity of particles from wildland fires (low estimate of 4,080 deaths, 95% CI, 240-7,890; middle estimate of 28,000 deaths, 95% CI, 27,300-28,700). Conclusions: This year's report identified sizable health benefits that would be expected to occur across the United States with compliance with more health-protective air quality standards such as those recommended by the American Thoracic Society. This study also indicates that a large number of excess deaths are attributable to emissions from wildland fires; air quality management strategies outside what is required by the Clean Air Act will be needed to best address this important source of air pollution and its associated health risks.

Respiratory Health Impacts of Outdoor Air Pollution and the Efficacy of Local Risk Communication in Quito, Ecuador.

Relatively few studies on the adverse health impacts of outdoor air pollution have been conducted in Latin American cities, whose pollutant mixtures and baseline health risks are distinct from North America, Europe, and Asia. This study evaluates respiratory morbidity risk associated with ambient air pollution in Quito, Ecuador, and specifically evaluates if the local air quality index accurately reflects population-level health risks. Poisson generalized linear models using air pollution, meteorological, and hospital admission data from 2014 to 2015 were run to quantify the associations of air pollutants and index values with respiratory outcomes in single- and multi-pollutant models. Significant associations were observed for increased respiratory hospital admissions and ambient concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), although some of these associations were attenuated in two-pollutant models. Significant associations were also observed for index values, but these values were driven almost entirely by daily O3 concentrations. Modifications to index formulation to more fully incorporate the health risks of multiple pollutants, particularly for NO2, have the potential to greatly improve risk communication in Quito. This work also increases the equity of the existing global epidemiological literature by adding new air pollution health risk values from a highly understudied region of the world.

Информирование о рисках, связанных с загрязнением атмосферного воздуха в Европейском регионе ВОЗ: обзор индексов качества воздуха и извлеченные уроки

В данном докладе представлен обзор индексов качества воздуха, используемых в 37 государствах-членах Европейского региона ВОЗ, а также некоторые наблюдения/предложения в отношении будущих мероприятий по улучшению информирования о риске загрязнения воздуха. В регионе информация о качестве воздуха широко доступна для населения, как онлайн, так и через официальные мобильные приложения. Информацию о прогнозируемом загрязнении воздуха часто сообщают вместе с данными мониторинга загрязнения воздуха в режиме почти реального времени. В большинстве стран используются национальные индексы качества воздуха вместо единого индекса, например, разработанного Европейским агентством по окружающей среде, а в некоторых применяется несколько различных индексов. Для расчета значений индексов используется широкий спектр подходов, но общая структура индексов схожа. Многие индексы не предусматривают строгой валидации для обеспечения соответствия значений индексов рискам для здоровья на уровне населения. Качество сопроводительной информации о здоровье варьируется в широких пределах, но во всем регионе были найдены хорошие примеры. В лучших примерах представлена информация о затронутых группах населения, описаны вероятные симптомы и даны конкретные рекомендации по снижению воздействия и рисков для здоровья. Учитывая широкий диапазон наблюдаемых концентраций загрязняющих веществ, смесей и предпочтений в отношении рисков, очень важно обеспечить специально разработанные информационные сообщения о здоровье наряду с информацией об индексных показателях. В дополнение к валидационным исследованиям на основе состояния здоровья населения, исследования должны быть направлены на понимание того, как население использует индексы качества воздуха (включая специальные предупреждения): сколько людей знают об этом индексе, регулярно ли они его изучают, изменяют ли они поведение в ответ на полученную информацию, и какие конкретные действия они предпринимают, реагируя на значения индекса и соответствующие сообщения о вреде для здоровья.

Risk communication of ambient air pollution in the WHO European Region: review of air quality indexes and lessons learned

This report provides an overview of air quality indexes used in 37 Member States of the WHO European Region and some observations/suggestions for future developments to improve risk communication on air pollution. In the Region, air quality information is widely available to the public, both online and through official mobile apps. Forecasted air pollution information is often reported alongside near real-time air pollution monitoring data. Most countries use a national Air Quality Index instead of a uniform index, such as that provided by the European Environment Agency, and some use several different indexes. A wide range of approaches are used to calculate index values, but the general structure of indexes is similar. Many indexes lack rigorous validation to ensure that index values correspond to population-level health risks. Quality of the accompanying health messaging varies widely, but good examples were found throughout the Region. The best examples provide information on the affected subpopulations, describe likely symptoms and make specific recommendations to reduce exposures and health risks. Given the wide range of pollutant concentrations, mixtures and risk preferences observed, it is critical to provide tailored health messaging to accompany index levels. In addition to health-based validation studies, research should focus on understanding how the public uses air quality indexes (including special alerts): how many people are aware of the index, whether they consult it regularly, whether they modify behaviour in response to the information, and what specific actions they take in response to index values and associated health messages.

Comprehensive evidence implies a higher social cost of CO2.

The social cost of carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) measures the monetized value of the damages to society caused by an incremental metric tonne of CO2 emissions and is a key metric informing climate policy. Used by governments and other decision-makers in benefit-cost analysis for over a decade, SC-CO2 estimates draw on climate science, economics, demography and other disciplines. However, a 2017 report by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine1 (NASEM) highlighted that current SC-CO2 estimates no longer reflect the latest research. The report provided a series of recommendations for improving the scientific basis, transparency and uncertainty characterization of SC-CO2 estimates. Here we show that improved probabilistic socioeconomic projections, climate models, damage functions, and discounting methods that collectively reflect theoretically consistent valuation of risk, substantially increase estimates of the SC-CO2. Our preferred mean SC-CO2 estimate is $185 per tonne of CO2 ($44-$413 per tCO2: 5%-95% range, 2020 US dollars) at a near-term risk-free discount rate of 2%, a value 3.6 times higher than the US government's current value of $51 per tCO2. Our estimates incorporate updated scientific understanding throughout all components of SC-CO2 estimation in the new open-source Greenhouse Gas Impact Value Estimator (GIVE) model, in a manner fully responsive to the near-term NASEM recommendations. Our higher SC-CO2 values, compared with estimates currently used in policy evaluation, substantially increase the estimated benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation and thereby increase the expected net benefits of more stringent climate policies.

Global Health Impacts for Economic Models of Climate Change: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Rationale: Avoiding excess health damages attributable to climate change is a primary motivator for policy interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the health benefits of climate mitigation, as included in the policy assessment process, have been estimated without much input from health experts. Objectives: In accordance with recommendations from the National Academies in a 2017 report on approaches to update the social cost of greenhouse gases (SC-GHG), an expert panel of 26 health researchers and climate economists gathered for a virtual technical workshop in May 2021 to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis and recommend improvements to the estimation of health impacts in economic-climate models. Methods: Regionally resolved effect estimates of unit increases in temperature on net all-cause mortality risk were generated through random-effects pooling of studies identified through a systematic review. Results: Effect estimates and associated uncertainties varied by global region, but net increases in mortality risk associated with increased average annual temperatures (ranging from 0.1% to 1.1% per 1°C) were estimated for all global regions. Key recommendations for the development and utilization of health damage modules were provided by the expert panel and included the following: not relying on individual methodologies in estimating health damages; incorporating a broader range of cause-specific mortality impacts; improving the climate parameters available in economic models; accounting for socioeconomic trajectories and adaptation factors when estimating health damages; and carefully considering how air pollution impacts should be incorporated in economic-climate models. Conclusions: This work provides an example of how subject-matter experts can work alongside climate economists in making continued improvements to SC-GHG estimates.

Communicating respiratory health risk among children using a global air quality index.

Air pollution poses a serious threat to children's respiratory health around the world. Satellite remote-sensing technology and air quality models can provide pollution data on a global scale, necessary for risk communication efforts in regions without ground-based monitoring networks. Several large centers, including NASA, produce global pollution forecasts that may be used alongside air quality indices to communicate local, daily risk information to the public. Here we present a health-based, globally applicable air quality index developed specifically to reflect the respiratory health risks among children exposed to elevated outdoor air pollution. Additive, excess-risk air quality indices were developed using 51 different coefficients derived from time-series health studies evaluating the impacts of ambient fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone on children's respiratory morbidity outcomes. A total of four indices were created which varied based on whether or not the underlying studies controlled for co-pollutants and in the adjustment of excess risks of individual pollutants. Combined with historical estimates of air pollution provided globally at a 25 × 25 km2 spatial resolution from the NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System composition forecast (GEOS-CF) model, each of these indices were examined in a global sample of 664 small and 140 large cities for study year 2017. Adjusted indices presented the most normal distributions of locally-scaled index values, which has been shown to improve associations with health risks, while indices based on coefficients controlling for co-pollutants had little effect on index performance. We provide the steps and resources need to apply our final adjusted index at the local level using freely-available forecasting data from the GEOS-CF model, which can provide risk communication information for cities around the world to better inform individual behavior modification to best protect children's respiratory health.

Excess Morbidity and Mortality Associated with Air Pollution above American Thoracic Society Recommended Standards, 2017-2019.

Rationale: Over the past year, the American Thoracic Society (ATS), led by its Environmental Health Policy Committee, has reviewed the most current air quality scientific evidence and has revised their recommendations to 8 µg/m3 and 25 µg/m3 for long- and short-term fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and reaffirmed the recommendation of 60 ppb for ozone to protect the American public from the known adverse health effects of air pollution. The current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, in contrast, expose the American public to pollution levels that are known to result in significant morbidity and mortality. Objectives: To provide county-level estimates of annual air pollution-related health outcomes across the United States using the most recent federal air quality data, and to support the ATS's recent update to the long-term PM2.5 recommended standard. This study is presented as part of the annual ATS/Marron Institute "Health of the Air" report. Methods: Daily air pollution values were obtained from the EPA's air quality system for monitored counties in the United States from 2017-2019. Concentration-response functions used in the EPA's regulatory review process were applied to pollution increments corresponding to differences between the rolling 3-year design values and ATS-recommended levels for long-term PM2.5 (8 µg/m3), short-term PM2.5 (25 µg/m3), and ground-level ozone (O3; 60 ppb). Health impacts were estimated at the county level in locations with valid monitoring data. Results: Meeting ATS recommendations throughout the country prevents an estimated 14,650 (95% confidence interval [CI], 8,660-22,610) deaths; 2,950 (95% CI, 1,530-4,330) lung cancer incidence events; 33,100 (95% CI, 7,300-71,000) morbidities, and 39.8 million (95% CI, 14.6-63.3 million) impacted days annually. This prevents 11,850 more deaths; 2,580 more lung cancer incidence events; 25,400 more morbidities; and 27.2 million more impacted days than meeting EPA standards alone. Conclusions: Significant health benefits to be gained by U.S. communities that work to meet ATS-recommended air quality standards have now been identified under scenarios meeting the new ATS recommendation for long-term PM2.5 (8 µg/m3). The "Health of the Air" report presents an opportunity for air quality managers to quantify local health burdens and EPA officials to update their standards to reflect the latest science.

Personal Interventions to Reduce Exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution.

Unhealthy levels of air pollution are breathed by billions of people worldwide, and air pollution is the leading environmental cause of death and disability globally. Efforts to reduce air pollution at its many sources have had limited success, and in many areas of the world, poor air quality continues to worsen. Personal interventions to reduce exposure to air pollution include avoiding sources, staying indoors, filtering indoor air, using face masks, and limiting physical activity when and where air pollution levels are elevated. The effectiveness of these interventions varies widely with circumstances and conditions of use. Compared with upstream reduction or control of emissions, personal interventions place burdens and risk of adverse unintended consequences on individuals. We review evidence regarding the balance of benefits and potential harms of personal interventions for reducing exposure to outdoor air pollution, which merit careful consideration before making public health recommendations with regard to who should use personal interventions and where, when, and how they should be used.

Augmenting the Standard Operating Procedures of Health and Air Quality Stakeholders With NASA Resources.

The combination of air quality (AQ) data from satellites and low-cost sensor systems, along with output from AQ models, have the potential to augment high-quality, regulatory-grade data in countries with in situ monitoring networks and provide much needed AQ information in countries without them, including Low and Moderate Income Countries (LMICs). We demonstrate the potential of free and publicly available USA National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) resources, which include capacity building activities, satellite data, and global AQ forecasts, to provide cost-effective, and reliable AQ information to health and AQ professionals around the world. We provide illustrative case studies that highlight how global AQ forecasts along with satellite data may be used to characterize AQ on urban to regional scales, including to quantify pollution concentrations, identify pollution sources, and track the long-range transport of pollution. We also provide recommendations to data product developers to facilitate and broaden usage of NASA resources by health and AQ stakeholders.

Personal Interventions for Reducing Exposure and Risk for Outdoor Air Pollution: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report.

Poor air quality affects the health and wellbeing of large populations around the globe. Although source controls are the most effective approaches for improving air quality and reducing health risks, individuals can also take actions to reduce their personal exposure by staying indoors, reducing physical activity, altering modes of transportation, filtering indoor air, and using respirators and other types of face masks. A synthesis of available evidence on the efficacy, effectiveness, and potential adverse effects or unintended consequences of personal interventions for air pollution is needed by clinicians to assist patients and the public in making informed decisions about use of these interventions. To address this need, the American Thoracic Society convened a workshop in May of 2018 to bring together a multidisciplinary group of international experts to review the current state of knowledge about personal interventions for air pollution and important considerations when helping patients and the general public to make decisions about how best to protect themselves. From these discussions, recommendations were made regarding when, where, how, and for whom to consider personal interventions. In addition to the efficacy and safety of the various interventions, the committee considered evidence regarding the identification of patients at greatest risk, the reliability of air quality indices, the communication challenges, and the ethical and equity considerations that arise when discussing personal interventions to reduce exposure and risk from outdoor air pollution.

Health Impacts of Climate Change as Contained in Economic Models Estimating the Social Cost of Carbon Dioxide.

The health impacts of climate change are substantial and represent a primary motivating factor to mitigate climate change. However, the health impacts in economic models that estimate the social cost of carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) have generally been made in isolation from health experts and have never been rigorously evaluated. Version 3.10 of the Framework for Uncertainty, Negotiation and Distribution (FUND) model was used to estimate the health-based portion of current SC-CO2 estimates across low-, middle-, and high-income regions. In addition to the base model, three additional experiments assessed the sensitivity of these estimates to changes in the socio-economic assumptions in the model. Economic impacts from adverse health outcomes represent ∼8.7% of current SC-CO2 estimates. The majority of these health impacts (74%) were attributable to diarrhea mortality (from both low- and high-income regions) followed by diarrhea morbidity (12%) and malaria mortality (11%); no other health impact makes a meaningful contribution to SC-CO2 estimates in current economic models. The results of the socio-economic experiments show that the health-based portion of SC-CO2 estimates are highly sensitive to assumptions regarding income elasticity of health effects, income growth, and use of equity weights. Improving the health-based portion of SC-CO2 estimates could have substantial impacts on magnitude of the SC-CO2. Incorporating additional health impacts not previously included in estimates of SC-CO2 will be a critical component of model updates. This effort will be most successful through coordination between economists and health researchers and should focus on updating the form and function of concentration-response functions.

Respiratory Impacts of Wildland Fire Smoke: Future Challenges and Policy Opportunities. An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report.

Wildland fires are diminishing air quality on a seasonal and regional basis, raising concerns about respiratory health risks to the public and occupational groups. This American Thoracic Society (ATS) workshop was convened in 2019 to meet the growing health threat of wildland fire smoke. The workshop brought together a multidisciplinary group of 19 experts, including wildland fire managers, public health officials, epidemiologists, toxicologists, and pediatric and adult pulmonologists. The workshop examined the following four major topics: 1) the science of wildland fire incidence and fire management, 2) the respiratory and cardiovascular health effects of wildland fire smoke exposure, 3) communication strategies to address these health risks, and 4) actions to address wildland fire health impacts. Through formal presentations followed by group discussion, workshop participants identified top priorities for fire management, research, communication, and public policy to address health risks of wildland fires. The workshop concluded that short-term exposure to wildland smoke causes acute respiratory health effects, especially among those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Research is needed to understand long-term health effects of repeated smoke exposures across fire seasons for children, adults, and highly exposed occupational groups (especially firefighters). Other research priorities include fire data collection and modeling, toxicology of different fire fuel sources, and the efficacy of health protective measures to prevent respiratory effects of smoke exposure. The workshop committee recommends a unified federal response to the growing problem of wildland fires, including investment in fire behavior and smoke air quality modeling, research on the health impacts of smoke, and development of robust clinical and public health communication tools.

Evaluating the U.S. Air Quality Index as a risk communication tool: Comparing associations of index values with respiratory morbidity among adults in California.

BACKGROUND: The Air Quality Index (AQI) in the United States is widely used to communicate daily air quality information to the public. While use of the AQI has led to reported changes in individual behaviors, such behavior modifications will only mitigate adverse health effects if AQI values are indicative of public health risks. Few studies have assessed the capability of the AQI to accurately predict respiratory morbidity risks. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In three major regions of California, Poisson generalized linear models were used to assess seasonal associations between 1,373,165 respiratory emergency department visits and short-term exposure to multiple metrics between 2012-2014, including: daily concentrations of NO2, O3, and PM2.5; the daily reported AQI; and a newly constructed health-based air quality index. AQI values were positively associated (average risk ratio = 1.03, 95% CI 1.02-1.04) during the cooler months of the year (November-February) in all three regions when the AQI was very highly correlated with PM2.5 (R2 ≥ 0.89). During the warm season (March-October) in the San Joaquin Valley region, neither AQI values nor the individual underlying air pollutants were associated with respiratory morbidity. Additionally, AQI values were not positively associated with respiratory morbidity in the Southern California region during the warm season, despite strong associations of the individual underlying air pollutants with respiratory morbidity; in contrast, health-based index values were observed to be significantly associated with respiratory morbidity as part of an applied policy analysis in this region, with a combined risk ratio of 1.02 (95% CI: 1.01-1.03). CONCLUSIONS: In regions where individual air pollutants are associated with respiratory morbidity, and during seasons with relatively simple air mixtures, the AQI can effectively serve as a risk communication tool for respiratory health risks. However, the predictive ability of the AQI and any other index is contingent upon the monitored values being representative of actual population exposures. Other approaches, such as health-based indices, may be needed in order to effectively communicate health risks of air pollution in regions and seasons with more complex air mixtures.

PM2.5 air pollution and cause-specific cardiovascular disease mortality.

BACKGROUND: Ambient air pollution is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet uncertainty remains about the size of risks at lower levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure which now occur in the USA and elsewhere. METHODS: We investigated the relationship of ambient PM2.5 exposure with cause-specific cardiovascular disease mortality in 565 477 men and women, aged 50 to 71 years, from the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. During 7.5 x 106 person-years of follow up, 41 286 cardiovascular disease deaths, including 23 328 ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and 5894 stroke deaths, were ascertained using the National Death Index. PM2.5 was estimated using a hybrid land use regression (LUR) geostatistical model. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to estimate relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Each increase of 10 µg/m3 PM2.5 (overall range, 2.9-28.0 µg/m3) was associated, in fully adjusted models, with a 16% increase in mortality from ischaemic heart disease [hazard ratio (HR) 1.16; 95% CI 1.09-1.22] and a 14% increase in mortality from stroke (HR 1.14; CI 1.02-1.27). Compared with PM2.5 exposure <8 µg/m3 (referent), risks for CVD were increased in relation to PM2.5 exposures in the range of 8-12 µg/m3 (CVD: HR 1.04; 95% CI 1.00-1.08), in the range 12-20 µg/m3 (CVD: HR 1.08; 95% CI 1.03-1.13) and in the range 20+ µg/m3 (CVD: HR 1.19; 95% CI 1.10-1.28). Results were robust to alternative approaches to PM2.5 exposure assessment and statistical analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution is associated with ischaemic heart disease and stroke mortality, with excess risks occurring in the range of and below the present US long-term standard for ambient exposure to PM2.5 (12 µg/m3), indicating the need for continued improvements in air pollution abatement for CVD prevention.

Air Pollution Monitoring for Health Research and Patient Care. An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report.

Air quality data from satellites and low-cost sensor systems, together with output from air quality models, have the potential to augment high-quality, regulatory-grade data in countries with in situ monitoring networks and provide much-needed air quality information in countries without them. Each of these technologies has strengths and limitations that need to be considered when integrating them to develop a robust and diverse global air quality monitoring network. To address these issues, the American Thoracic Society, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences convened a workshop in May 2017 to bring together global experts from across multiple disciplines and agencies to discuss current and near-term capabilities to monitor global air pollution. The participants focused on four topics: 1) current and near-term capabilities in air pollution monitoring, 2) data assimilation from multiple technology platforms, 3) critical issues for air pollution monitoring in regions without a regulatory-quality stationary monitoring network, and 4) risk communication and health messaging. Recommendations for research and improved use were identified during the workshop, including a recognition that the integration of data across monitoring technology groups is critical to maximizing the effectiveness (e.g., data accuracy, as well as spatial and temporal coverage) of these monitoring technologies. Taken together, these recommendations will advance the development of a global air quality monitoring network that takes advantage of emerging technologies to ensure the availability of free, accessible, and reliable air pollution data and forecasts to health professionals, as well as to all global citizens.

Trends in Excess Morbidity and Mortality Associated with Air Pollution above American Thoracic Society-Recommended Standards, 2008-2017.

Rationale: Air quality improvements are increasingly difficult to come by as modern pollution control technologies and measures have been widely implemented in the United States. Although there have been dramatic improvements in air quality over the last several decades, it is important to evaluate changes in the health impacts of air pollution for a more recent time period to better understand the current trajectory of air quality improvements. Objectives: To provide county-level estimates of annual air pollution-related health outcomes across the United States and to evaluate these trends from 2008 to 2017, presented as part of the annual American Thoracic Society (ATS)/Marron Institute "Health of the Air" report. Methods: Daily air pollution values were obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality System for monitors in the United States from 2008 to 2017. Concentration-response functions used in the ATS/Marron Institute "Health of the Air" report were applied to the pollution increments corresponding to differences between the rolling 3-year design values (reported as the third year) and ATS-recommended levels for annual particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5; 11 µg/m3), short-term PM2.5 (25 µg/m3), and ozone (O3; 60 ppb). Health impacts were estimated at the county level in locations with valid monitor data. Results: Annual excess mortality in the United States due to air pollution levels greater than recommended by the ATS decreased from approximately 12,600 (95% confidence interval [CI], 5,470-21,040) in 2010 to 7,140 (95% CI, 2,290-14,040) in 2017. This improvement can be attributed almost entirely to reductions in PM2.5-related mortality, which decreased by approximately 60% (reduced from 8,330 to 3,260 annual deaths), whereas O3-related mortality remained largely unchanged, other than year-to-year variability, over the same time period (reduced from 4,270 to 3,880 annual deaths). Conclusions: Improvements in health impacts attributable to ambient PM2.5 concentrations have been observed across most regions of the United States over the last decade, although the rate of these improvements has leveled off in recent years. Despite two revisions of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards strengthening the standard for O3 in 2008 and 2015, there has not yet been a substantial improvement in the health impacts attributable to O3 during this time period. In many U.S. cities, an increase in the exposed population over the last decade has outpaced the improvements in ambient O3 concentrations, resulting in a net increase in O3-related health impacts over time.

A Novel Environmental Justice Indicator for Managing Local Air Pollution.

Environmental justice efforts in the United States seek to provide equal protection from environmental hazards, such as air pollution, to all groups, particularly among traditionally disadvantaged populations. To accomplish this objective, the U.S. EPA has previously required states to use an environmental justice screening tool as part of air quality planning decision-making. The generally utilized approach to assess potential areas of environmental justice concern relies on static comparisons of environmental and demographic information to identify areas where minority and low income populations experience elevated environmental exposures, but does not include any additional information that may inform the trade-offs that sub-populations of varying socio-demographic groups make when choosing where to reside in cities. In order to address this limitation, job accessibility (measured by a mobility index defining the number of jobs available within a set commuting time) was developed as a novel environmental justice indicator of environmental justice priority areas at the local level. This approach is modeled using real-world data in Allegheny County, PA (USA), and identifies areas with relatively high levels of outdoor air pollution and low access to jobs. While traditional tools tend to flag the poorest neighborhoods for environmental justice concerns, this new method offers a more refined analysis, targeting populations suffering from the highest environmental burden without the associated benefits of urban living.