Point: Clarifying policy evidence with potential-outcomes thinking-beyond exposure-response estimation in air pollution epidemiology

American Journal of Epidemiology

Volumn 180, Issue 12, 2014, Pages 1133-1140

  Zigler, Corwin Matthew ^a   Dominici, Francesca ^a  

^a HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH   (United States)

Author keywords

Accountability; Air pollution; Clean air act; Health outcomes; Particulate matter

Indexed keywords

ACCOUNTABILITY; AIR QUALITY; ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION; ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION; EPIDEMIOLOGY; HEALTH POLICY; HEALTH STATUS; PARTICULATE MATTER; POLICY ANALYSIS; PUBLIC HEALTH;

AIR POLLUTION; EXPOSURE; PARTICULATE MATTER; THINKING; AIR POLLUTANT; ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; EPIDEMIOLOGY; GOVERNMENT REGULATION; HUMAN; METHODOLOGY; POLICY; PROCEDURES; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; TIME;

AIR POLLUTANT;

AIR POLLUTANTS; AIR POLLUTION; CAUSALITY; CONFOUNDING FACTORS (EPIDEMIOLOGY); ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE; ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING; EPIDEMIOLOGIC METHODS; GOVERNMENT REGULATION; HUMANS; POLICY; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; RESEARCH DESIGN; TIME FACTORS;

EID: 84924900427     PISSN: 00029262     EISSN: 14766256     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwu263     Document Type: Article

References (44)

1. Dockery DW, Pope CA III, Xu X, et al. An association between air pollution and mortality in six U.S. cities. N Engl J Med. 1993;329(24):1753-1759.
2. Pope CA III. Particulate pollution and health: a review of the Utah valley experience. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol. 1996; 6(1):23-34.
3. Friedman MS, Powell KE, Hutwagner L, et al. Impact of changes in transportation and commuting behaviors during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta on air quality and childhood asthma. JAMA. 2001;285(7):897-905.
4. Krewski D, Burnett R, Goldberg M, et al. Overview of the reanalysis of the Harvard Six Cities Study and American Cancer Society Study of Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2003;66(16-19):1507-1551.
5. Laden F, Schwartz J, Speizer FE, et al. Reduction in fine particulate air pollution and mortality: extended follow-up of the Harvard Six Cities Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2006; 173(6):667-672.
6. Zeger SL, Dominici F, McDermott A, et al. Mortality in the Medicare population and chronic exposure to fine particulate air pollution in urban centers (2000-2005). Environ Health Perspect. 2008;116(12):1614-1619.
7. Pope CA III, Ezzati M, Dockery DW. Fine-particulate air pollution and life expectancy in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2009;360(4):376-386.
8. Correia AW, Pope CA III, Dockery DW, et al. Effect of air pollution control on life expectancy in the United States: an analysis of 545 U.S. counties for the period from 2000 to 2007. Epidemiology. 2013;24(1):23-31.
9. Chen Y, Ebenstein A, Greenstone M, et al. Evidence on the impact of sustained exposure to air pollution on life expectancy from China's Huai River policy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013;110(32):12936-12941.
10. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Integrated Science Assessment for Particulate Matter. Research Triangle Park, NC: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development; 2009.
11. Samet JM. The Clean Air Act and health-A clearer view from 2011. N Engl J Med. 2011;365(3):198-201.
12. Dominici F, Greenstone M, Sunstein CR. Science and regulation. Particulate matter matters. Science. 2014;344(6181):257-259.
13. US EPA Office of Air and Radiation. The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act: 1990 to 2020. Research Triangle Park, NC: US EPA Office of Air and Radiation; 2010. (Revised Draft Report).
14. HEI Accountability Working Group. Assessing the Health Impact of Air Quality Regulations: Concepts and Methods for Accountability Research. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute; 2003. (Communication 11).
15. National Research Council. Air Quality Management in the United States. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2004.
16. Hidy GM, Brook JR, Demerjian KL, et al. Technical Challenges of Multipollutant Air Quality Management. New York, NY: Springer; 2011.
17. Hubbell B. Assessing the results of air quality management programs. EM Magazine. 2012:8-15.
18. US Environmental Protection Agency. Designing Research to Assess Air Quality and Health Outcomes From Air Pollution Regulations, Research Triangle Park, NC: 2013. http://www. cleanairinfo.com/finepmpolicy/index.htm. Accessed October 29, 2014.
19. van Erp AM, Cohen AJ. HEI's Research Program on the Impact of Actions to Improve Air Quality: Interim Evaluation and Future Directions. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute; 2009.
20. Health Effects Institute. Proceedings of an HEI Workshop on Further Research to Assess the Health Impacts of Actions Taken to Improve Air Quality. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute; 2010.
21. van Erp AM, Cohen AJ, Shaikh R, et al. Recent progress and challenges in assessing the effectiveness of air quality interventions towards improving public health: the HEI experience. EM Magazine. 2012:22-28.
22. van Erp AM, Kelly FJ, Demerjian KL, et al. Progress in research to assess the effectiveness of air quality interventions towards improving public health. Air Qual Atmos Health. 2012; 5(2):217-230.
23. US EPA. Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP) User's Manual. Research Triangle Park, NC: US EPA; 2012. (Technical Report).
24. Glass TA, Goodman SN, Hernán MA, et al. Causal inference in public health. Annu Rev Public Health. 2013;34:61-75.
25. Rubin DB. Bayesian inference for causal effects: the role of randomization. Ann Stat. 1978;6(1):34-58.
26. Rubin DB. For objective causal inference, design trumps analysis. Ann Appl Stat. 2008;2(3):808-840.
27. Hernán MA, Alonso A, Logan R, et al. Observational studies analyzed like randomized experiments: an application to postmenopausal hormone therapy and coronary heart disease. Epidemiology. 2008;19(6):766-779.
28. Clancy L, Goodman P, Sinclair H, et al. Effect of air-pollution control on death rates in Dublin, Ireland: an intervention study. Lancet. 2002;360(9341):1210-1214.
29. Holland PW. Statistics and causal inference. J Am Stat Assoc. 1986;81(396):945-960.
30. Dockery DW, Rich DQ, Goodman PG, et al. Effect of Air Pollution Control on Mortality and Hospital Admissions in Ireland. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute; 2013.
31. Peel JL, Klein M, Flanders WD, et al. Impact of Improved Air Quality During the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta on Multiple Cardiovascular and Respiratory Outcomes. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute; 2010.
32. Hudgens MG, Halloran ME. Toward causal inference with interference. J Am Stat Assoc. 2008;103(482):832-842.
33. Tchetgen EJT, VanderWeele TJ. On causal inference in the presence of interference. Stat Methods Med Res. 2012;21(1): 55-75.
34. Chay KY, Greenstone M. The impact of air pollution on infant mortality: evidence from geographic variation in pollution shocks induced by a recession. Q J Econ. 2003;118(3): 1121-1167.
35. Pope CA III, Rodermund DL, Gee MM. Mortality effects of a copper smelter strike and reduced ambient sulfate particulate matter air pollution. Environ Health Perspect. 2007;115(5): 679-683.
36. Moore K, Neugebauer R, Lurmann F, et al. Ambient ozone concentrations and cardiac mortality in Southern California 1983-2000: application of a new marginal structural model approach. Am J Epidemiol. 2010;171(11):1233-1243.
37. Currie J, Walker R. Traffic congestion and infant health: evidence from E-ZPass. Am Econ J Appl Econ. 2011;3(1): 65-90.
38. Rich DQ, Kipen HM, Huang W, et al. Association between changes in air pollution levels during the Beijing Olympics and biomarkers of inflammation and thrombosis in healthy young adults. JAMA. 2012;307(19):2068-2078.
39. Hedley AJ, Wong C-M, Thach TQ, et al. Cardiorespiratory and all-cause mortality after restrictions on sulphur content of fuel in Hong Kong: an intervention study. Lancet. 2002;360(9346): 1646-1652.
40. Tonne C, Beevers S, Armstrong B, et al. Air pollution and mortality benefits of the London Congestion Charge: spatial and socioeconomic inequalities. Occup Environ Med. 2008; 65(9):620-627.
41. Chay K, Dobkin C, Greenstone M. The clean air act of 1970 and adult mortality. J Risk Uncertain. 2003;27(3):279-300.
42. Greenstone M. Did the clean air act cause the remarkable decline in sulfur dioxide concentrations? J Environ Econ Manage. 2004;47(3):585-611.
43. Zigler CM, Dominici F, Wang Y. Estimating causal effects of air quality regulations using principal stratification for spatially correlated multivariate intermediate outcomes. Biostatistics. 2012;13(2):289-302.
44. Deschenes O, Greenstone M, Shapiro JS. Defensive Investments and the Demand for Air Quality: Evidence from the NOx Budget Program and Ozone Reductions. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research; 2012 (Working Paper 18267).