Introduction to JA&WMA Special Issue on Air Quality and Human Health

S. Trivikrama Rao, Ph.D.

As a result of the U.S. Clean Air Act, great progress has been made in improving the nation’s air quality over the past five decades. It has been demonstrated that this improvement in ambient air quality has contributed to increased life expectancy. Despite the substantial reduction in high concentration levels of criteria pollutants and air toxics, however, the health effects of air pollution and the interplay between climate change and air quality still remain a major concern worldwide. Recognizing the need to improve our understanding of the complex relationships among climate change, extreme weather events, air pollution, and human health, this issue of JA&WMA includes a grouping of nine papers on this important topic.

The papers are quite diverse and consider multiple air pollutants and different health endpoints over a wide variety of geographic areas. The paper by Pope et al. discusses the characteristics of the concentration–response functions and the need for reducing air pollution to help further improve human health. Wyzga and Rohr review published epidemiological studies that included at least one fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) component in examining health outcomes to individual components. Adams et al. describe the National Particle Component Toxicity (NPACT) initiative, a comprehensive research program that combined epidemiological and toxicological approaches to evaluate whether some components of the PM mixture are of greater public health concern than others using speciated PM_2.5 data from national air quality monitoring network. Jones et al. point out that exposure to PM_2.5 and secondary aerosols, including sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate, were positively associated with respiratory hospitalizations in New York State. Using outputs from global climate models, Fann et al. estimate tens to thousands of additional ozone-related premature deaths and illnesses per year in the future due to climate change. Rivera-González et al. discuss possible exposure misclassifications from using spatial averaging versus geo-statistical interpolation methods. Haikerwal et al. discuss the impact of prescribed burning on ambient air quality, focussing on PM_2.5 and its linkage to human health. Wilson estimates the increase in risk of daily cardiovascular mortality due to an increase in the daily ambient concentration of the individual particulate pollutants, sulfur, arsenic, selenium, and mercury using single and multipollutant models. The final paper in this special grouping by Sun et al. examines the PM_2.5- and ozone-related mortality at present and in the future over the continental United States using the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) and atmospheric chemical fields simulated by the WRF/CMAQ model, driven with dynamical downscaling of a global climate-chemistry model.

Many epidemiological studies demonstrate that air pollution mitigation measures contribute to improving human health. The relative importance of particle versus gaseous co-pollutant exposure remains a challenging issue to resolve. These papers also highlight the need to properly address the potential adverse impacts of climate change and extreme events on human health. I hope these papers will serve to reinforce the value of JA&WMA to its readership and encourage additional publications on this timely topic.

S. Trivikrama Rao, Ph.D.

Technical Editor-in-Chief

JA&WMA

North Carolina State University

[email protected]