to define a national geographic domain, with high spatial (1 km²) and temporal (daily) resolution, and to build a list of georeferenced environmental and temporal indicators useful for environmental ...epidemiology applications at national level.
geographic study.
study domain: Italian territory divided into 307,635 1-km² grid cells; study period: 2006-2012, divided into 2,557 daily time windows.
for each grid cell and day, an extensive number of indicators has been computed. These indicators include spatial (administrative layers, resident population, presence of water bodies, climatic zones, land use variables, impervious surfaces, orography, viability, point and areal emissions of air pollutants) and spatio-temporal predictors (particulate matter data from monitoring stations, meteorological parameters, desert dust advection episodes, aerosol optical depth, normalized difference vegetation index, planetary boundary layer) potentially useful to characterize population environmental exposures and to estimate their health effects, at national level.
this study represents the first example of relational big data in environmental epidemiology at national level, where multiple sources of data (satellite, environmental, meteorology, land use, population) have been linked on a common spatial and temporal domain, aimed at promoting environmental epidemiology applications at national and local level.
The urban structure is the main determinant of population exposure to a number of environmental factors. Several aspects of urban life, including increased exposure to air pollution (AP), traffic ...noise, and lack of green areas can have detrimental effects on health and may contribute to increased morbidity and premature mortality. We aimed to estimate the health impact of AP, traffic noise, and lack of green on residents in Rome.
Annual PM2.5 concentrations in 2015 (1km x 1km grid) were estimated using the FARM dispersion model developed by the Lazio Regional Environmental Agency; road traffic noise indicators (Lden, LAeq16h, Lnight) were estimated at census tract level using the acoustic model Sound Plan 7.4 (reference to 2009 traffic flow data); ArcMap was used to assess the percentage of residential addresses with a green area within 300m. For PM2.5 and NO2 we estimated attributable premature deaths from natural causes and lung cancer, and incidence of coronary events. Non-accidental premature deaths attributable to lack of green areas were also estimated for 1,926,736 residents within ring road area. For noise we estimated attributable cases of non-accidental mortality, hypertension, sleep disorders and incidence of coronary events. Available exposure-response functions (WHO/HRAPIE and updates for AP; published meta-analytic estimates for noise and green) were used. The counterfactual levels used were 10ug/m3 for PM2.5, 5dB(A) for Lden and LAeq16h, 40 dB(A) for Lnight, and 100% of residential addresses without green areas within 300m.
2,617,175 Rome residents are exposed to relatively high mean annual levels of PM2.5 (18.6 ug/m3). The noise mean exposure levels are also high, 60.5 dB(A) Lden, 62.6 dB(A) LAeq16h, and 51.3 dB(A) Lnight. 50% of residential addresses have lack of green within 300 m. We estimated 1,526 (CI95% 896-1928) annual premature deaths, 960 incident coronary events and 148 lung cancer deaths attributable to PM2.5. A total of 882 (CI95% 78-1,487) annual premature deaths, 15,458 (CI95% 5,277-24,491) hypertension cases, 247 (CI95% 129-383) incident coronary events, and 146,744 (CI95% 76,187-261,099) sleep disorders are attributable to traffic noise. 979 premature deaths were attributable to lack of green areas.
The HIA indicates an important negative impact of air pollution, noise and lack of green areas in the city of Rome. The results call for the adoption of radicals interventions in order to reduce vehicular traffic in the city (especially diesel vehicles) and increase greenness to reduce population exposure and prevent large health effects.
the body of evidence on health effects of residential exposure to urban waste incinerators suggests association with reproductive outcomes and some cancers, but the overall evidence is still limited.
...we evaluated the impact of two incinerators on hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in a cohort of people living nearby two incineration plants in Lazio Region (Central Italy) using a before-and-after design.
the study area was defined as the 7-km radius around the incinerators. People who were resident in the area from 1996 to 2008 were enrolled in a retrospective longitudinal study. All addresses were geocoded. A Lagrangian dispersion model (SPRAY) for PM₁₀ (ng/m³) was used for incinerators exposure assessment. Average annual concentration of background PM₁₀ (μg/m³) was estimated on a regional basis by means of RAMS and FARM models. Both PM₁₀ exposures were estimated at the residential address. All subjects were followed for hospital admissions in the period before (1996-2002) and after (2003-2008) the activation of the plants. The association between exposure to emissions from incinerators and hospitalizations in the two periods was estimated using the multivariate Cox model (for repeated events), adjusting for age, area-level socioeconomic status, distance from industries, traffic roads and highways. An interaction term between the period of follow-up (before or after the activation of the plants) and the exposure levels was used to test the effect of the incinerators.
47,192 subjects resident in the study area were enrolled. No clear association between pollution exposure from incinerators and cause-specific morbidity of residents in highest concentration areas was found when compared to the reference group. However, an effect of PM₁₀ on respiratory diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was suggested. The effect was due to excesses of hospitalizations for the same causes among men living in highest exposure areas in respect to the reference group (hazard ratio - HR: 1.26; 95%CI 0.99-1.60, and HR: 1.86; 95%CI 1.04-3.33, respectively). There were associations between exposure to background pollution from other sources and hospitalizations for diseases of the circulatory system (HR: 1.08; 95%CI 1.03-1.13) and respiratory diseases (HR: 1.07; 95%CI 1.02-1.11) (for a unitary increment of PM₁₀, μg/m³).
living in areas with high PM₁₀ levels due to incinerators was associated with increased morbidity levels for respiratory disorders among men. The study area is critical from an environmental point of view, hence an epidemiological surveillance is recommended.
Background The association of childhood leukemia with traffic pollution was considered in a number of studies from 1989 onwards, with results not entirely consistent and little information regarding ...subtypes. Aim of the study We used the data of the Italian SETIL case-control on childhood leukemia to explore the risk by leukemia subtypes associated to exposure to vehicular traffic. Methods We included in the analyses 648 cases of childhood leukemia (565 Acute lymphoblastic–ALL and 80 Acute non lymphoblastic-AnLL) and 980 controls. Information on traffic exposure was collected from questionnaire interviews and from the geocoding of house addresses, for all periods of life of the children. Results We observed an increase in risk for AnLL, and at a lower extent for ALL, with indicators of exposure to traffic pollutants. In particular, the risk was associated to the report of closeness of the house to traffic lights and to the passage of trucks (OR: 1.76; 95% CI 1.03–3.01 for ALL and 6.35; 95% CI 2.59–15.6 for AnLL). The association was shown also in the analyses limited to AML and in the stratified analyses and in respect to the house in different period of life. Conclusions Results from the SETIL study provide some support to the association of traffic related exposure and risk for AnLL, but at a lesser extent for ALL. Our conclusion highlights the need for leukemia type specific analyses in future studies. Results support the need of controlling exposure from traffic pollution, even if knowledge is not complete.
Air pollution has been recently classified among the top ten risk factors for mortality worldwide. The evidence on the long-term effects of air pollutants is mounting, mostly from multi-centre ...American studies or longitudinal studies conducted in single European cohorts. Recently, the EU-funded project ESCAPE (European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects) involved more than 30 cohort studies with the aim of producing pooled estimates of the long-term health effects of ambient air pollution at European level. The project developed a standardized and flexible methodology to estimate chronic exposure to several air pollutants, applied such estimates to existing cohorts in Europe, and analyzed the exposure-response relationships with different health endpoints, including adverse pregnancy outcomes, respiratory diseases among children, cardio-respiratory diseases among adults, cause-specific mortality and lung cancer incidence. One of the most important results has been the detection of relevant health effects of particulate matter at concentrations below the current air quality limit values in Europe.
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