New Studies on Health Effects at Low Air Pollution Concentrations

Three new studies, funded under RFA 14-3, Assessing Health Effects of Long-term Exposure to Low Levels of Ambient Air Pollution, will investigate health effects in millions of people exposed to low levels of air pollution in North America and Europe. The studies aim to shed light on the observation that some epidemiologic studies have reported associations of air pollution with health effects at levels below current air quality standards, raising questions as to whether current standards are protective of the general population. The principal investigators are Michael Brauer of the University of British Columbia, Bert Brunekreef of Utrecht University, and Francesca Dominici of Harvard University. They will use state-of-the-science exposure estimation and statistical methods to analyze large population-based databases in Canada, Europe, and the United States, respectively. Read more in the Fall 2015 Newsletter.