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Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study

BACKGROUND: This study had two principal objectives: (i) to investigate the relationship between asthma severity and proximity to major roadways in Perth, Western Australia; (ii) to demonstrate a more accurate method of exposure assessment for traffic pollutants using an innovative GIS-based measure...

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Autores principales: Cook, Angus G, deVos, Annemarie JBM, Pereira, Gavin, Jardine, Andrew, Weinstein, Philip
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3127974/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21631953
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-10-52
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author Cook, Angus G
deVos, Annemarie JBM
Pereira, Gavin
Jardine, Andrew
Weinstein, Philip
author_facet Cook, Angus G
deVos, Annemarie JBM
Pereira, Gavin
Jardine, Andrew
Weinstein, Philip
author_sort Cook, Angus G
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: This study had two principal objectives: (i) to investigate the relationship between asthma severity and proximity to major roadways in Perth, Western Australia; (ii) to demonstrate a more accurate method of exposure assessment for traffic pollutants using an innovative GIS-based measure that fully integrates all traffic densities around subject residences. METHODS: We conducted a spatial case-control study, in which 'cases' were defined as individuals aged under 19 years of age with more severe asthma (defined here as two or more emergency department contacts with asthma in a defined 5-year period) versus age- and gender-matched 'controls' with less severe asthma (defined here as one emergency department contact for asthma). Traffic exposures were measured using a GIS-based approach to determine the lengths of the roads falling within a buffer area, and then multiplying them by their respective traffic counts. RESULTS: We examined the spatial relationship between emergency department contacts for asthma at three different buffer sizes: 50 metres, 100 metres and 150 metres. No effect was noted for the 50 metre buffer (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 0.91-1.26), but elevated odds ratios were observed with for crude (unadjusted) estimates OR = 1.21 (95% CI: 1.00-1.46) for 100 metre buffers and OR = 1.25 (95% CI: 1.02-1.54) for 150 metre buffers. For adjusted risk estimates, only the 150 metre buffer yielded a statistically significant finding (OR = 1.24; 95% CI:1.00-1.52). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed a significant 24% increase in the risk of experiencing multiple emergency department contacts for asthma for every log-unit of traffic exposure. This study provides support for the hypothesis that traffic related air pollution increases the frequency of health service contacts for asthma. This study used advanced GIS techniques to establish traffic-weighted buffer zones around the geocoded residential location of subjects to provide an accurate assessment of exposure to traffic emissions, thereby providing a quantification of the ranges over which pollutants may exert a health effect.
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spelling pubmed-31279742011-07-01 Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study Cook, Angus G deVos, Annemarie JBM Pereira, Gavin Jardine, Andrew Weinstein, Philip Environ Health Research BACKGROUND: This study had two principal objectives: (i) to investigate the relationship between asthma severity and proximity to major roadways in Perth, Western Australia; (ii) to demonstrate a more accurate method of exposure assessment for traffic pollutants using an innovative GIS-based measure that fully integrates all traffic densities around subject residences. METHODS: We conducted a spatial case-control study, in which 'cases' were defined as individuals aged under 19 years of age with more severe asthma (defined here as two or more emergency department contacts with asthma in a defined 5-year period) versus age- and gender-matched 'controls' with less severe asthma (defined here as one emergency department contact for asthma). Traffic exposures were measured using a GIS-based approach to determine the lengths of the roads falling within a buffer area, and then multiplying them by their respective traffic counts. RESULTS: We examined the spatial relationship between emergency department contacts for asthma at three different buffer sizes: 50 metres, 100 metres and 150 metres. No effect was noted for the 50 metre buffer (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 0.91-1.26), but elevated odds ratios were observed with for crude (unadjusted) estimates OR = 1.21 (95% CI: 1.00-1.46) for 100 metre buffers and OR = 1.25 (95% CI: 1.02-1.54) for 150 metre buffers. For adjusted risk estimates, only the 150 metre buffer yielded a statistically significant finding (OR = 1.24; 95% CI:1.00-1.52). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed a significant 24% increase in the risk of experiencing multiple emergency department contacts for asthma for every log-unit of traffic exposure. This study provides support for the hypothesis that traffic related air pollution increases the frequency of health service contacts for asthma. This study used advanced GIS techniques to establish traffic-weighted buffer zones around the geocoded residential location of subjects to provide an accurate assessment of exposure to traffic emissions, thereby providing a quantification of the ranges over which pollutants may exert a health effect. BioMed Central 2011-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC3127974/ /pubmed/21631953 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-10-52 Text en Copyright ©2011 Cook et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Cook, Angus G
deVos, Annemarie JBM
Pereira, Gavin
Jardine, Andrew
Weinstein, Philip
Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study
title Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study
title_full Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study
title_fullStr Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study
title_full_unstemmed Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study
title_short Use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study
title_sort use of a total traffic count metric to investigate the impact of roadways on asthma severity: a case-control study
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3127974/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21631953
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-10-52
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