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Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature

Coal-based energy production is the most utilized method of electricity production worldwide and releases the highest concentration of gaseous, particulate, and metallic pollutants. This article aims to systematically review the public health impact of coal-fired power plant emissions on children’s...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Amster, Eric, Lew Levy, Clara
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6604200/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31195672
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16112008
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author Amster, Eric
Lew Levy, Clara
author_facet Amster, Eric
Lew Levy, Clara
author_sort Amster, Eric
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description Coal-based energy production is the most utilized method of electricity production worldwide and releases the highest concentration of gaseous, particulate, and metallic pollutants. This article aims to systematically review the public health impact of coal-fired power plant emissions on children’s health. PubMed, Web of Science, and Toxline databases were queried for the past 20 years. Inclusion criteria included original scientific articles with (a) coal-fired power plant exposure assessment, (b) at least one primary pediatric health outcome, and (c) assessment of potential sources of confounding and bias. Only morbidity and mortality studies were included; economic analysis and risk assessment studies without a primary health outcome were not included. Of 513 articles initially retrieved, 17 epidemiological articles were included in the final systematic review after screening and eligibility. The articles reviewed showed a statistically significant adverse effect on pediatric neurodevelopment; birth weight and pediatric respiratory morbidity was associated with exposure to coal-fired power plant emissions, primarily particulate matter and polyaromatic hydrocarbon exposure. There is a lack of consistency of exposure assessment and inadequate control of significant potential confounders such as social economic status. Future research should focus on improving exposure assessment models with an emphasis on source-apportionment and geographic information system methods to model power plant-specific emissions.
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spelling pubmed-66042002019-07-19 Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature Amster, Eric Lew Levy, Clara Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Coal-based energy production is the most utilized method of electricity production worldwide and releases the highest concentration of gaseous, particulate, and metallic pollutants. This article aims to systematically review the public health impact of coal-fired power plant emissions on children’s health. PubMed, Web of Science, and Toxline databases were queried for the past 20 years. Inclusion criteria included original scientific articles with (a) coal-fired power plant exposure assessment, (b) at least one primary pediatric health outcome, and (c) assessment of potential sources of confounding and bias. Only morbidity and mortality studies were included; economic analysis and risk assessment studies without a primary health outcome were not included. Of 513 articles initially retrieved, 17 epidemiological articles were included in the final systematic review after screening and eligibility. The articles reviewed showed a statistically significant adverse effect on pediatric neurodevelopment; birth weight and pediatric respiratory morbidity was associated with exposure to coal-fired power plant emissions, primarily particulate matter and polyaromatic hydrocarbon exposure. There is a lack of consistency of exposure assessment and inadequate control of significant potential confounders such as social economic status. Future research should focus on improving exposure assessment models with an emphasis on source-apportionment and geographic information system methods to model power plant-specific emissions. MDPI 2019-06-05 2019-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6604200/ /pubmed/31195672 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16112008 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Amster, Eric
Lew Levy, Clara
Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature
title Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature
title_full Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature
title_fullStr Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature
title_short Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature
title_sort impact of coal-fired power plant emissions on children’s health: a systematic review of the epidemiological literature
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6604200/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31195672
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16112008
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