Global Health

This report describes a study to evaluate a series of aggressive policies intended to reduce local and regional emissions in the greater Beijing metropolitan area leading up to and during the 2008 Olympics. Dr. Junfeng (Jim) Zhang of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and colleagues evaluated the impact of the likely changes in air pollution levels on cardiovascular responses in 125 healthy young participants before, during, and after the Beijing Olympics. The investigators used mixed models and time-series methods to analyze associations between pollutant levels and biomarkers.

This report describes the first-ever multicity study to estimate the effect of short-term exposures to particulate matter (PM₁₀) and to ozone on mortality in nine Latin American cities. Led by Dr. Isabelle Romieu in Mexico, in collaboration with Dr. Nelson Gouveia in Brazil and Dr. Luis Cifuentes in Chile, the researchers evaluated mortality from all causes and in different age groups, using a common analytic framework. They analyzed mortality in each city and the region as a whole, and explored two pollutant models in individual cities. They also used two meta-analytic statistical techniques to further analyze the effects from individual cities.

This report describes a study to investigate the relationships among daily variations in air pollution in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, hospital admissions for acute lower respiratory infections in children under age 5, and poverty. The study was part of HEI's Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA) program and is the first study of air quality and health to be performed in Vietnam. The team of investigators, led by Drs. Le Truong Giang, Long Ngo, and Sumi Mehta, collected daily pollutant data for PM₁₀, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone at multiple locations throughout the city and obtained admissions data from the two pediatric hospitals in HCMC. They then performed statistical analysis on the data using Poisson time-series and case–crossover methods.

Contents: Effects of Exposure to Diesel Exhaust Particles in Persons with Asthma and Allergy; Workshop Brings Experts Together: Atmospheric Chemists and Health Effects Scientists Meet at HEI to Discuss Common Goals; Symposium Sheds Light on Air Toxics Hot Spots; Wood Stove Changeout Program Brings Some Improvements in Health, Air Quality; Three New HEI Studies Launched: Ozone Exposure and Inflammatory Cells / PM Exposure and Heart Rhythm / Impact of Exposure in Early Life; ACES Reaches Important Milestones; New Investigator