Friends,
This reports on another study of air pollution health
effects. We need to review the Nov paper to see if demographic and other
confounding effects are adequately incorporated.
Regards, Jim Muckerheide
======================
Los Angeles study finds higher pollution death risk
Reuters
Sep
27, 2005 — By Kevin Krolicki
LOS
ANGELES (Reuters) - The risk of dying from air pollution in parts of
traffic-clogged Los Angeles
appears sharply higher than previously believed, according to a study comparing
the risks of living in affluent, beachfront neighborhoods to the hazy and
fast-growing inland area.
The study
was a first to attempt to look at how chronic health problems are linked to the
degree of pollution across the neighborhoods of a major U.S. city, lead
author, Michael Jerrett said.
The
study, which will be published in the November issue of Epidemiology, found the
risk of death rose by 11 to 17 percent from the cleanest parts of Los Angeles to the most polluted areas of Riverside
and San Bernardino
counties to the east.
The risk
of fatal heart disease rose by between 25 percent to 39 percent as the
concentration of fine particles in the neighborhood's air rose by a measure of
10 micrograms per cubic meter of air, the study showed.
Data from
monitoring sites within Los Angeles show that
the concentration of such airborne particles — tiny specks of solids and
droplets of acids and other chemicals — rises by almost 20 micrograms per
cubic meter as commuters head east from L.A.'s
wealthier, westside neighborhoods.
Los Angeles,
infamous for its smog and traffic congestion, is ringed by mountains that help
trap pollution in a basin that is home to over 13 million people.
Previous
research has concentrated on how the health risks from pollution differ from
one city to the next, broad measurements that have been used to set air quality
standards, said Jerrett, a professor at USC's Keck School of Medicine.
Scientists
believe the smallest particles of pollution pose the greatest health risk since
they sink deep into the lungs and enter the blood, causing inflammation and a
thickening of artery walls that can prompt heart attacks and strokes.
"It's
what we can't see that is most dangerous to us," Jerrett said.
The
study, based on an analysis of data on almost 23,000 people tracked by the
American Cancer Society, also found that the risk of death from diabetes almost
doubled in the more polluted areas of Southern California.