Air pollution is directly linked to death. In December 2020, a UK coroner ruled that air pollution was the cause of a fatal asthma attack that led to the 2013 death of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi Debrah who lived adjacent to a busy motorway (BBC News, 2022). The assignment of air pollution as the official cause of death on a death certificate was the first of its kind in the world (Reynolds, 2020). Though this was the first official assignment of air pollution as a cause of death, there are numerous studies linking air pollution exposure with mortality all over the world. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the air pollutant PM 2.5 was identified as the "largest environmental risk factor in the United States" (Goodkind et al. 2019, p. 8780) and the cause of more annual premature deaths than traffic accidents and homicides combined (Goodkind et al. 2019). With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers began assessing the impact of air pollution exposure on COVID-19 incidence and death. In a widely received, nationwide study linking air pollution exposure to COVID-19 mortality, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers, Wu et al., produced significant findings linking the impact of long term exposure to PM 2.5 to COVID-19 mortality across the contiguous United States. This 2020 study, published in ScienceAdvances, has been cited over 600 times, covered by 131 news outlets and downloaded over 15,000 times. Georeferenced data is routinely used in public health research such as this, however, the substantive influence of geography in the relationship between the treatment and outcome variable is often not considered in the model specifications, research design, nor the sampling strategy (Goldhagen et al., 2005; Matisziw, Grubesic, and Wei 2008). Additionally, the mechanism of data aggregation to an administrative unit may spatially misrepresent the data (Delmelle et al., 2022). As air pollution is a local, regional, and transboundary phenomenon (Nordenstam et. al, 1998; Goodkind, 2019), spatial autocorrelation, or spatially similar values, in the long term exposure to PM 2.5 among U.S. counties is likely. Despite the inclusion of maps indicating strong spatial trends in the long term exposure to PM 2.5 and COVID-19 mortality, the possible presence of spatial autocorrelation at the local level or spatial heterogeneity at the regional level was not investigated by the authors. Epidemiological studies invoking large, areal units may misrepresent the underlying, spatial processes of environmental health-hazards and produce unreliable treatment effect estimates when relating air pollution exposure to disease (Fotheringham and Wong, 1991; Kolak and Anselin, 2019). In this thesis, the fragility of the Wu et al. treatment effect estimate to unobserved confounding is assessed utilizing an alternative sensitivity analysis framework. This framework revealed that the estimate derived by Wu et al. (2020) is much more fragile to confounding than reported by the authors. Spatial analysis was then applied to investigate the possibility of spatial regimes (e.g. hotspots) in the treatment and outcome variables which may contribute to biased or inefficient treatment effect estimates. Strong levels of spatial autocorrelation and regional spatial heterogeneity in the long term exposure to PM 2.5, and to a lesser extent in the COVID-19 mortality rate, were confirmed by both computational and exploratory spatial data analysis. The highly variable associations between long term exposure to PM 2.5 and COVID-19 Mortality per U.S. Census Region or EPA Climatically Consistent Region delivered the expected result that the relationship between the treatment and outcome variable changes with changes in the sub-National definition of place. An understanding of the geography of the ubiquitous, locally variable and far-reaching PM 2.5, and its related health-hazard risks can contribute to an uncovering of the politics, power relations, and socioenvironments that coproduce differential access to clean air and the resulting uneven health burdens experienced by Black, LatinX, Asian-American, and immigrant communities. This is an essential step towards disentangling the relationships rendering clean air no longer an "open-access good" (V ron, 2006).

Traffic-Related Air Pollution synthesizes and maps TRAP and its impact on human health at the individual and population level. The book analyzes mitigating standards and regulations with a focus on cities. It provides the methods and tools for assessing and quantifying the associated road traffic emissions, air pollution, exposure and population-based health impacts, while also illuminating the mechanisms underlying health impacts through clinical and toxicological research. Real-world implications are set alongside policy options, emerging technologies and best practices. Finally, the book recommends ways to influence discourse and policy to better account for the health impacts of TRAP and its societal costs. - Overviews existing and emerging tools to assess TRAP's public health impacts - Examines TRAP's health effects at the population level - Explores the latest technologies and policies--alongside their potential effectiveness and adverse consequences--for mitigating TRAP - Guides on how methods and tools can leverage teaching, practice and policymaking to ameliorate TRAP and its effects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a mission and regulatory responsibility to protect human health and the environment. EPA's pursuit of that goal includes a variety of research activities involving human subjects, such as epidemiologic studies and surveys. Those research activities also involve studies of individuals who volunteer to be exposed to air pollutants intentionally in controlled laboratory settings so that measurements can be made of transient and reversible biomarker or physiologic responses to those exposures that can indicate pathways of toxicity and mechanisms of air-pollution responses. The results of those controlled human inhalation exposure (CHIE) studies, also referred to as human clinical studies or human challenge studies, are used to inform policy decisions and help establish or revise standards to protect public health and improve air quality. Controlled Human Inhalation-Exposure Studies at EPA addresses scientific issues and provides guidance on the conduct of CHIE studies. This report assesses the utility of CHIE studies to inform and reduce uncertainties in setting air-pollution standards to protect public health and assess whether continuation of such studies is warranted. It also evaluates the potential health risks to test subjects who participated in recent studies of air pollutants at EPA's clinical research facility.

This open access book not only describes the challenges of climate disruption, but also presents solutions. The challenges described include air pollution, climate change, extreme weather, and related health impacts that range from heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food and water insecurity and chronic diseases to malnutrition and mental well-being. The influence of humans on climate change has been established through extensive published evidence and reports. However, the connections between climate change, the health of the planet and the impact on human health have not received the same level of attention. Therefore, the global focus on the public health impacts of climate change is a relatively recent area of interest. This focus is timely since scientists have concluded that changes in climate have led to new weather extremes such as floods, storms, heat waves, droughts and fires, in turn leading to more than 600,000 deaths and the displacement of nearly 4 billion people in the last 20 years. Previous work on the health impacts of climate change was limited mostly to epidemiologic approaches and outcomes and focused less on multidisciplinary, multi-faceted collaborations between physical scientists, public health researchers and policy makers. Further, there was little attention paid to faith-based and ethical approaches to the problem. The solutions and actions we explore in this book engage diverse sectors of civil society, faith leadership, and political leadership, all oriented by ethics, advocacy, and policy with a special focus on poor and vulnerable populations. The book highlights areas we think will resonate broadly with the public, faith leaders, researchers and students across disciplines including the humanities, and policy makers.

This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the economic consequences of outdoor air pollution in the coming decades, focusing on the impacts on mortality, morbidity, and changes in crop yields as caused by high concentrations of pollutants.

This book assists scientists, toxicologists, clinicians, and public health regulators to understand the complex issues that determine the impact of air pollution on the cardiovascular system. It covers a range of relevant topics including particulate matter (PM) sources and characterization, methods of exposure, impact of PM on cells and systems, role of particles in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease, risk assessment, and potential environmental and therapeutic interventions.

World Humanitarian Data and Trends is an annual OCHA publication, which highlights major trends in the nature of humanitarian crises, their underlying causes and drivers, and the actors that participate in crises prevention, response and recovery. Beyond providing statistics, the report uses infographics to display trend analyses that show how the humanitarian landscape is evolving and how the humanitarian system can be more effective in a rapidly changing world. Data used in the report comes from a variety of sources and partners. The report is structured in three main sections: 'the year in review', which provides an overview of the humanitarian landscape in terms of funding, capacity, crises and appeals, a 'regional perspectives' section and 'trends, challenges and opportunities', which provides case studies on issues that impact humanitarian operations. The report is anchored in the Agenda for Humanity, launched at the World Humanitarian Summit held in May 2016. Highlights for 2018 include new case studies on protracted crises - the length of international response, the distribution of funding and people targeted for aid over time - as well as case studies on using artificial intelligence to track displacement, supporting local action through country-based pooled funds and attacks on education and healthcare facilities. The report aims to provide a "one-stop" shop for policy makers, researchers and humanitarian practitioners to have an evidence-base and advocacy tools for humanitarian assistance. This report is one part of OCHA's efforts to improve data and analysis on humanitarian situations worldwide.

Regulatory standards are already on the books at the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address health risks posed by inhaling tiny particles from smoke, vehicle exhaust, and other sources. At the same time, Congress and EPA have initiated a multimillion dollar research effort to better understand the sources of these airborne particles, the levels of exposure to people, and the ways that these particles cause damage. To provide independent guidance to the EPA, Congress asked the National Research Council to study the relevant issues. The result is a series of four reports on the particulate-matter research program. The first two books offered a conceptual framework for a national research program, identified the 10 most critical research needs, and described the recommended timing and estimated costs of such research. This, the third volume, begins the task of assessing the progress made in implementing the research program. The National Research Council ultimately concludes that the ongoing program is appropriately addressing many of the key uncertainties. However, it also identifies a number of critical specific subjects that should be given greater attention. Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter focuses on the most current and planned research projects with an eye toward the fourth and final report, which will contain an updated assessment.

This book aims to strengthen the knowledge base dealing with Air Pollution. The book consists of 21 chapters dealing with Air Pollution and its effects in the fields of Health, Environment, Economy and Agricultural Sources. It is divided into four sections. The first one deals with effect of air pollution on health and human body organs. The second section includes the Impact of air pollution on plants and agricultural sources and methods of resistance. The third section includes environmental changes, geographic and climatic conditions due to air pollution. The fourth section includes case studies concerning of the impact of air pollution in the economy and development goals, such as, indoor air pollution in México, indoor air pollution and millennium development goals in Bangladesh, epidemiologic and economic impact of natural gas on indoor air pollution in Colombia and economic growth and air pollution in Iran during development programs. In this book the authors explain the definition of air pollution, the most important pollutants and their different sources and effects on humans and various fields of life. The authors offer different solutions to the problems resulting from air pollution.