Three new reports on air pollution exposure and health

HEI recently published three Research Reports:

• Effect of Air Pollution Reductions on Mortality During the COVID-19 Lockdowns in Early 2020 (Research Report 224) presents a study that used the unique scenario of COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020 to understand how a pause in human activity might affect day-to-day changes in air pollution and the resulting effects on health. Kai Chen of the Yale School of Public Health and colleagues conducted the study in four regions that covered an entire country (Germany) or part of a country (California in the United States, Central and Southern Italy, and the coastal eastern region of Jiangsu, China). Read the Report
• As described in Air Pollution Exposure, Prefrontal Connectivity, and Emotional Behavior in Early Adolescence (Research Report 225), Megan Herting of the University of Southern California and colleagues examined whether childhood and prenatal exposure to residential outdoor fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) was associated with neurodevelopment over a 1-year period in a nationally representative cohort of children transitioning to adolescence (ages 9–10) in the United States. Herting is a recipient of HEI’s 2019 Walter A. Rosenblith New Investigator Award. Read the Report
• Comparison of Long-Term Air Pollution Exposure from Mobile and Routine Monitoring, Low-Cost Sensors, and Dispersion Models (Research Report 226), presents a study led by Gerard Hoek at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, whose team compared the performance of a suite of long-term exposure assessment models for four air pollutants: ultrafine particles, black carbon, fine particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide. Read the Report