Episodic Air Pollution in Metropolitan Boston

Abstract

A retrospective, epidemiological, trial air pollution study was made in the Boston metropolis tan area of the November 1966 air stagnation period (and a lesser stagnation period of the preceding October). The total suspended particulate matter, used as the air pollution index, increased above the seasonal average by about 50% in the earlier period and more than doubled in the November period. Out of a series of ten morbidity and mortality indexes that were considered for measuring against the air pollution variations, five were actually analyzed. Of the five, an association was found for only one, the numbers of clinic visits that were made by a cohort of patients with chronic, nonspecific respiratory disease.