Lifetime Population Exposure to Air Pollution in Canada

Spatiotemporal air pollution exposure assessment for a Canadian population-based lung cancer case-control study (26 page pdf, Perry Hystad, Paul A Demers, Kenneth C Johnson, Jeff Brook, Aaron van Donkelaar, Lok Lamsal, Randall Martin and Michael Brauer, Environmental Health, Apr.4, 2012)

 Today, we review a report that develops a method of assessing exposure to air pollution over several decades, based on the exposure of residents to air pollution from industrial and mobile sources, as deduced from the conventional national air pollution network and from vehicle emissions, updated using space based sensors on the OMI satellite. The approach used will likely be very useful for then assessing the lifetime risk of cancer from accumulated exposure to air pollution.  
Key Quotes:

“The spatiotemporal exposure assessment included three steps:

• national spatial surfaces were created from recent satellite-based estimates (for PM2.5 and NO2) and a chemical transport model (for O3)…
• National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) monitoring data were compiled and formatted for the study period, including 120 NO2 stations and 1030 measurement-years…
• spatial pollutant surfaces were calibrated yearly to estimate average annual concentrations between 1975 and 1994”

“Exposures to vehicle emissions were estimated using proximity measures to highways (freeways and major highways) and major roads (freeways, highways, and arterial and collector roads).. within 50, 100 and 300 m.. living near a major road in 1975 is equivalent to 1.26 “1994” years due to changes in vehicle emissions (the ratio also accounts for changes in vehicle numbers)”

 “only 40% of participants lived at their study entry residence for the entire 20 year exposure period”

 “The exposure assessment methods developed here will allow subsequent epidemiological analyses to examine latency periods associated with lung cancer, include both urban and rural populations, and study the contributions of multiple ambient pollutants and local vehicle and industrial emissions to lung cancer risk in Canada”

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