Air Quality Awareness Among U.S. Adults With Respiratory and Heart Disease.

Introduction: Poor air quality affects respiratory and cardiovascular health. Information about health risks associated with outdoor air quality is communicated to the public using air quality alerts. This study was conducted to assess associations of existing respiratory and heart disease with three aspects of air quality awareness: awareness of air quality alerts, discussing with a health professional strategies to reduce air pollution exposure, and avoiding busy roads to reduce air pollution exposure when walking, biking, or exercising outdoors.

Association of short-term exposure to ground-level ozone and respiratory outpatient clinic visits in a rural location - Sublette County, Wyoming, 2008-2011.

Objective: Short-term exposure to ground-level ozone has been linked to adverse respiratory and other health effects; previous studies typically have focused on summer ground-level ozone in urban areas. During 2008-2011, Sublette County, Wyoming (population: ~10,000 persons), experienced periods of elevated ground-level ozone concentrations during the winter. This study sought to evaluate the association of daily ground-level ozone concentrations and health clinic visits for respiratory disease in this rural county.

Residential traffic exposure and childhood leukemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Context: Exposure to elevated concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants in the near-road environment is associated with numerous adverse human health effects, including childhood cancer, which has been increasing since 1975. Results of individual epidemiologic studies have been inconsistent. Therefore, a meta-analysis was performed to examine the association between residential traffic exposure and childhood cancer.

Residential proximity to major highways - United States, 2010.

Traffic-related air pollution is a main contributor to unhealthy ambient air quality, particularly in urban areas with high traffic volume. Within urban areas, traffic is a major source of local variability in air pollution levels, with the highest concentrations and risk of exposure occurring near roads. Motor vehicle emissions represent a complex mixture of criteria air pollutants, including carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter (PM), as well as hydrocarbons that react with NOx and sunlight to form ground-level ozone.

Air pollution and respiratory symptoms among children with asthma: vulnerability by corticosteroid use and residence area.

Rationale: Information on how ambient air pollution affects susceptible populations is needed to ensure protective air quality standards.

Objectives: To estimate the effect of community-level ambient particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O) on respiratory symptoms among primarily African-American and Latino, lower-income asthmatic children living in Detroit, Michigan and to evaluate factors associated with heterogeneity in observed health effects.

Methods: A cohort of 298 children with asthma was studied prospectively from 1999 to 2002.

National carbon monoxide poisoning surveillance framework and recent estimates.

Objectives: Unintentional, non-fire-related (UNFR) carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a leading cause of poisoning in the United States. A comprehensive national CO poisoning surveillance framework is needed to obtain accurate estimates of CO poisoning burden and guide prevention efforts. This article describes the current national CO poisoning surveillance framework and reports the most recent national estimates.

A review of disaster-related carbon monoxide poisoning: surveillance, epidemiology, and opportunities for prevention.

Objectives: We conducted a systematic literature review to better understand aspects of disaster-related carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning surveillance and determine potentially effective prevention strategies.

Methods: This review included information from 28 journal articles on disaster-related CO poisoning cases occurring between 1991 and 2009 in the United States.

Results: We identified 362 incidents and 1888 disaster-related CO poisoning cases, including 75 fatalities.

Residential carbon monoxide alarm prevalence and ordinance awareness.

Objective: Unintentional carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a leading cause of poisoning in the United States. Most poisoning cases occur in residential settings and a working CO alarm may prevent many of these events. The use of a CO alarm is mandated in many parts of the country; however, little is known about the compliance and adoption of such ordinances at the population level.

Recipients of hyperbaric oxygen treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning and exposure circumstances.

Background: Unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning is preventable. Severe cases are often referred for hyperbaric oxygen treatment. To guide prevention efforts and treatment practices, this study provides some of the most detailed current information about patients with carbon monoxide poisoning who have been treated at hyperbaric facilities across the United States and the circumstances surrounding their exposures.

Hospital burden of unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States, 2007.

Background: Unintentional, non-fire-related (UNFR) carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a leading cause of poisoning in the United States, but the overall hospital burden is unknown. This study presents patient characteristics and the most recent comprehensive national estimates of UNFR CO-related emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations.

Methods: Data from the 2007 Nationwide Inpatient and Emergency Department Sample of the Hospitalization Cost and Utilization Project were analyzed.

Carbon monoxide-related hospitalizations in the U.S.: evaluation of a web-based query system for public health surveillance.

Objective: Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is preventable, yet it remains one of the most common causes of poisoning in the U.S. In the absence of a national data reporting system for CO-poisoning surveillance, the burden of CO-related hospitalizations is unknown.

Hunting with lead: association between blood lead levels and wild game consumption.

Background: Wild game hunting is a popular activity in many regions of the United States. Recently, the presence of lead fragments in wild game meat, presumably from the bullets or shot used for hunting, has raised concerns about health risks from meat consumption.

Objective: This study examined the association between blood lead levels (PbB) and wild game consumption.

The impact of excess heat events in Maricopa County, Arizona: 2000--2005.

Exposure to excess heat is preventable yet it is the primary weather-related cause of mortality in the United States. In the Southwest United States, high temperatures are common and indoor environments often have cooling devices. In summer 2005, Maricopa County, Arizona experienced a 182% increase in reported heat-related deaths in comparison to 2000--2004.

Air pollution-associated changes in lung function among asthmatic children in Detroit.

In a longitudinal cohort study of primary-school-age children with asthma in Detroit, Michigan, we examined relationships between lung function and ambient levels of particulate matter < or = 10 microm and < or = 2.5 microm in diameter (PM10 and PM2.5) and ozone at varying lag intervals using generalized estimating equations.

Effects of concentrated fine ambient particles on rat plasma levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine.

The health effects of ambient fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and its potential impact on vascular endothelial function have not been thoroughly investigated. As endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its complications, we examined the effects of concentrated fine ambient particles (CAPs) on the plasma level of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in a pilot study.

Measles outbreak epidemiology in the United States, 1993-2001.

To evaluate the extent of measles virus circulation and populations at risk in the United States, we reviewed measles outbreaks during 1993-2001. A total of 120 measles outbreaks, constituting 1804 outbreak-related cases, were reported during this period. The maximum outbreak size decreased from 233 cases in 1993-1995 to 119 cases in 1996-1998 and 15 cases in 1999-2001.

Assessment of personal and community-level exposures to particulate matter among children with asthma in Detroit, Michigan, as part of Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA).

We report on the research conducted by the Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA) in Detroit, Michigan, to evaluate personal and community-level exposures to particulate matter (PM) among children with asthma living in an urban environment. CAAA is a community-based participatory research collaboration among academia, health agencies, and community-based organizations. CAAA investigates the effects of environmental exposures on the residents of Detroit through a participatory process that engages participants from the affected communities in all aspects of the design and conduct of the research; disseminates the results to all parties involved; and uses the research results to design, in collaboration with all partners, interventions to reduce the identified environmental exposures.