Large floods drive changes in cause-specific mortality in the United States.

Flooding greatly endangers public health and is an urgent concern as rapid population growth in flood-prone regions and more extreme weather events will increase the number of people at risk. However, an exhaustive analysis of mortality following floods has not been conducted. Here we used 35.

Increased Emergency Department Medical Imaging: Association with Short-Term Exposures to Ambient Heat and Particulate Air Pollution.

Background Climate change adversely affects human health, resulting in higher demand for health care services. However, the impact of climate-related environmental exposures on medical imaging utilization is currently unknown. Purpose To determine associations of short-term exposures to ambient heat and particulate air pollution with utilization of emergency department medical imaging.

Gerrymandering and the Packing and Cracking of Medical Uninsurance Rates in the United States.

Context: Technological innovation and access to big data have allowed partisan gerrymandering to increase dramatically in recent redistricting cycles.

Objective: To understand whether and how partisan gerrymandering, including "packing" and "cracking" (ie, respectively concentrating within or dividing specified social groups across political boundaries), distorts understanding of public health need when health statistics are calculated for congressional districts (CDs).

Design: Cross-sectional study using 2020 CDs and nonpartisan simulated districts.

Neighborhood greenness and long-term physical and psychosocial quality of life among prostate cancer survivors in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Introduction: Neighborhood greenness may benefit long-term prostate cancer survivorship by promoting physical activity and social integration, and reducing stress and exposure to air pollution, noise, and extreme temperatures. We examined associations of neighborhood greenness and long-term physical and psychosocial quality of life in prostate cancer survivors in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Methods: We included 1437 individuals diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer between 2008 and 2016 across the United States.

Social integration and long-term physical and psychosocial quality of life among prostate cancer survivors in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Purpose: Prostate cancer survivors may benefit from a supportive social environment. We investigated associations of social integration and long-term physical and psychosocial quality of life among prostate cancer survivors who were participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Methods: We included 1,428 individuals diagnosed with non-metastatic prostate cancer between 2008 and 2016.

Long-term exposure to air pollution, greenness and temperature and survival after a nonfatal myocardial infarction.

Background: Little is known about the impact of environmental exposures on mortality risk after a myocardial infarction (MI).

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate associations of long-term temperature, air pollution and greenness exposures with mortality among survivors of an MI.

Methods: We used data from the US-based Nurses' Health Study to construct an open cohort of survivors of a nonfatal MI 1990-2017.

Exposure-Response to High PM Levels for Cardiovascular Events in High-risk Older Adults in Taiwan.

Background: Multiple studies from countries with relatively lower PM level demonstrated that acute and chronic exposure even at lower than recommended level, e.g., 9 μg/m in the US increased the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events.

Ambient heat exposure patterns and emergency department visits and hospitalizations among medicare beneficiaries 2008-2019.

Objective: To assess the association between ambient heat and all-cause and cause-specific emergency department (ED) visits and acute hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries in the conterminous United States.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Conterminous US from 2008 and 2019.

Quantifying Multipollutant Health Impacts Using the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program-Community Edition (BenMAP-CE): A Case Study in Atlanta, Georgia.

Background: Air pollution risk assessments do not generally quantify health impacts using multipollutant risk estimates, but instead use results from single-pollutant or copollutant models. Multipollutant epidemiological models account for pollutant interactions and joint effects but can be computationally complex and data intensive. Risk estimates from multipollutant studies are therefore challenging to implement in the quantification of health impacts.

1965 US Voting Rights Act Impact on Black and Black Versus White Infant Death Rates in Jim Crow States, 1959-1980 and 2017-2021.

To investigate the impact of the US Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 on Black and Black versus White infant deaths in Jim Crow states. Using data from 1959 to 1980 and 2017 to 2021, we applied difference-in-differences methods to quantify differential pre-post VRA changes in infant deaths in VRA-exposed versus unexposed counties, controlling for population size and social, economic, and health system characteristics. VRA-exposed counties, identified by Section 4, were subject to government interventions to remove existing racist voter suppression policies.

Ambient Heat and Risk of Serious Hypoglycemia in Older Adults With Diabetes Using Insulin in the U.S. and Taiwan: A Cross-National Case-Crossover Study.

Objective: To measure the association between ambient heat and hypoglycemia-related emergency department visit or hospitalization in insulin users.

Research Design And Methods: We identified cases of serious hypoglycemia among adults using insulin aged ≥65 in the U.S.

Air Pollution and Temperature: a Systematic Review of Ubiquitous Environmental Exposures and Sudden Cardiac Death.

Purpose Of Review: Environmental exposures have been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and acute coronary events, but their relationship with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains unclear. SCD is an important contributor to the global burden of cardiovascular disease worldwide.

Recent Findings: Current literature suggests a relationship between environmental exposures and cardiovascular disease, but their relationship with OHCA/SCD remains unclear.

Associations between air pollution, residential greenness, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in three prospective cohorts of U.S. adults.

Background: While studies suggest impacts of individual environmental exposures on type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk, mechanisms remain poorly characterized. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a biomarker of glycemia and diagnostic criterion for prediabetes and T2D. We explored associations between multiple environmental exposures and HbA1c in non-diabetic adults.

Retrospective cohort study investigating synergism of air pollution and corticosteroid exposure in promoting cardiovascular and thromboembolic events in older adults.

Objective: To evaluate the synergistic effects created by fine particulate matter (PM) and corticosteroid use on hospitalisation and mortality in older adults at high risk for cardiovascular thromboembolic events (CTEs).

Design And Setting: A retrospective cohort study using a US nationwide administrative healthcare claims database.

Participants: A 50% random sample of participants with high-risk conditions for CTE from the 2008-2016 Medicare Fee-for-Service population.

Impacts of census differential privacy for small-area disease mapping to monitor health inequities.

The U.S. Census Bureau will implement a modernized privacy-preserving disclosure avoidance system (DAS), which includes application of differential privacy, on publicly released 2020 census data.

Association between Outdoor Light at Night and Prostate Cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Background: Circadian disruption is a potential risk factor for advanced prostate cancer, and light at night (LAN) exposure may disrupt circadian rhythms. We evaluated whether outdoor LAN increases the risk of prostate cancer.

Methods: We prospectively followed 49,148 participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 through 2016.

Air Pollution and Cardiovascular and Thromboembolic Events in Older Adults With High-Risk Conditions.

Little epidemiologic research has focused on pollution-related risks in medically vulnerable or marginalized groups. Using a nationwide 50% random sample of 2008-2016 Medicare Part D-eligible fee-for-service participants in the United States, we identified a cohort with high-risk conditions for cardiovascular and thromboembolic events (CTEs) and linked individuals with seasonal average zip-code-level concentrations of fine particulate matter (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.

Estimating a Causal Exposure Response Function with a Continuous Error-Prone Exposure: A Study of Fine Particulate Matter and All-Cause Mortality.

Numerous studies have examined the associations between long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) and adverse health outcomes. Recently, many of these studies have begun to employ high-resolution predicted PM concentrations, which are subject to measurement error. Previous approaches for exposure measurement error correction have either been applied in non-causal settings or have only considered a categorical exposure.

Air Pollution and Mortality at the Intersection of Race and Social Class.

Background: Black Americans are exposed to higher annual levels of air pollution containing fine particulate matter (particles with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 μm [PM]) than White Americans and may be more susceptible to its health effects. Low-income Americans may also be more susceptible to PM pollution than high-income Americans.

Mobile Source Benzene Regulations and Risk of Childhood and Young Adult Hematologic Cancers in Alaska: A Quasi-experimental Study.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the impact of the EPA's Mobile Source Air Toxics rules (MSAT), which targeted benzene emissions, on childhood and young adult leukemia and lymphoma incidence in Alaska.

Methods: MSAT was implemented in 2011 and produced a dramatic decline in ambient benzene in Alaska. Due to previous benzene-related regulations enacted in the continental United States, MSAT had relatively modest impacts in other states.

Addressing spatial misalignment in population health research: a case study of US congressional district political metrics and county health data.

Areal spatial misalignment, which occurs when data on multiple variables are collected using mismatched boundary definitions, is a ubiquitous obstacle to data analysis in public health and social science research. As one example, the emerging sub-field studying the links between political context and health in the United States faces significant spatial misalignment-related challenges, as the congressional districts (CDs) over which political metrics are measured and administrative units, e.g.

Evaluation of Model-Based PM Estimates for Exposure Assessment during Wildfire Smoke Episodes in the Western U.S.

Investigating the health impacts of wildfire smoke requires data on people's exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) across space and time. In recent years, it has become common to use machine learning models to fill gaps in monitoring data. However, it remains unclear how well these models are able to capture spikes in PM during and across wildfire events.

Investigating Use of Low-Cost Sensors to Increase Accuracy and Equity of Real-Time Air Quality Information.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality (AQ) monitors, the "gold standard" for measuring air pollutants, are sparsely positioned across the U.