urban air quality atlanta AiR QUALiTY and PEDiATRiC EMERGENCY ROOM ViSiTS for ASTHMA in ATLANTA, GEO

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urban air quality
atlantaAiR QUALiTY and PEDiATRiC EMERGENCY ROOM
ViSiTS for ASTHMA in ATLANTA, GEORGiA by paige
e. tolbert, james a. mulholland, david l.
macintosh, fan xu, danni daniels, owen j. devine,
bradley p. carlin, mitchel klein, jenny dorley,
andre j. butler, dale f. nordenberg, howard
frumkin, p. barry ryan, and mary c. white

presentation by caitlin mcclure
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ENViRONMENTAL PROTECTiON AGENCY

• In 1970, the White House and Congress established
  the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
  response to the countrys need for cleaner air,
  land, and water.
• The EPA had to clean up the existing damage and
  start new.
• The administrator of the EPA is appointed by the
  president of the United States
• The EPA employs roughly 18,000 people.
  These employees consist
  mainly of
  engineers, scientists, and analysts.
• EPAs MiSSiON
  
  To protect human health and
  the
  environment.

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CLEAN AiR ACT
The Clean Air Act was created in 1990 and it
consists of Title I - Air Pollution
Prevention and Control Title II - Emission
Standards for Moving Sources Title III -
General Title IV - Acid Deposition
Control Title V - Permits Title VI -
Stratospheric Ozone Protection
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POLLUTiON
Pollution comes from three major
sources Stationary sources factories, power
plants, smelters,
dry cleaners and degreasing
operations Mobile sources cars, buses, trains,
trucks, and planes Naturally occurring sources -
windblown dust and volcanic eruptions
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Pollution is extremely harmful to human health
The article Air Quality and Pediatric Emergency
Room Visits for Asthma in Atlanta, Georgia is
about a study done in 2000 observing pediatric
emergency room visits throughout the months of
June, July, and August over the years 1993, 1994,
and 1995. The hospitals used in this research
were Grady Hospital/Hughes Spalding Pediatric
Center, Egleston Childrens Hospital, Scottish
Rite Childrens Hospital, South Fulton Hospital,
Southern Regional Hospital, Gwinnett Hospital,
and Henry Hospital, totaling 7 different
hospitals. Keep in mind that these are the
hospitals that agreed to participate in the
study, there are many other hospitals in the
Atlanta area that did not participate. Pertainin
g to the ER visits, what was looked at to be
included in the study was the medical record
number, date and time of admission, International
Classification of Diseases, diagnostic code,
procedure code, age, sex, race, zip code of
residence, and payment method.
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--In this study, air quality referred to the
ozone, particulate matter, total oxides of
nitrogen, pollen, mold, and other meteorologic
data such as temperature and humidity. --The air
quality data was collected daily from June 1st
through August 31st over the years of 93, 94,
and 95. --This data was collected from 13
monitoring stations that were located around and
within the border of the Atlanta Metropolitan
Statistical Area. --The Atlanta Metro area
consisted of, at the time, 20 counties which
included 162 zip code areas. This area had a
radius of roughly 45 miles and it encompassed
about 6,000 square miles and over 3 million
people (today that number surpasses 4
million). --The data from the monitoring
stations was collected from sources such as the
GA Department of Natural Resources, the EPAs
Aerometric Info Retrieval System, The Clean Air
Status and Trends Network, the Fulton County
Health Department, the National Climatic Data
Center, the US Geological Survey, the
Southeastern Consortium for Intensive Oxidant and
Nitrogen Measurements, and the Atlanta Allergy
Clinic.
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There were a total of 128,969 pediatric emergency
room visits throughout June, July, and August of
93, 94, and 95. Of those, 5,934 (5) visits
were due to Asthma. The outcome of this study
showed that these ER visits were most prominent
in males among lower socioeconomic status groups
(lower usage of air conditioning) and ones that
used Medicaid as their form of payment. The
highest amount of visits occurred on Sundays and
Tuesdays and were lowest on Fridays. The number
of visits were higher in the months of June and
August and in the years 93 and 95. The summer
of 1994 was wet and damp which helped lower the
number of Asthma cases.
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A few problems with this study were that This
was a retrospective study, meaning that it was
not possible to collect information that was
lost or missing from the medical
records. Exposure issues this study was unable
to obtain all information pertaining to
personal exposure to pollution including air
conditioning and time that the patient spent
outdoors, cigarette smoke, cockroaches and
mold. More information that was unable to be
obtained was whether or not the patient was in
their own zip code during or before they went
to the ER. This study only included 7
hospitals within the Atlanta Metro area
equaling 80 of hospitals. Therefore, all
data was not able to be put to use, if only the
other 20 had agreed to participate in the
study.
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The Clean Air Campaign was formed in 1996 in
effort to motivate Georgians to take action to
improve air quality and reduce traffic
congestion. It is a non-profit organization
that works year-round in order to educate the
public and promote voluntary efforts to improve
our air quality.
Walk There! Challenge From April 3rd until April
30th, metro Atlanta residents are logging their
steps. This challenge is being done in order to
help reduce traffic congestion and improve health
and air quality. The April 2005 challenge
brought in a total of 3,000 walkers, the October
2005 challenge brought in 3,400 walkers and
hopefully this month will bring in even more.
Walkers that total the most amount of steps each
month win a prize of either and iPod Shuffle or a
weekend getaway.