ANALYSIS OF REPEATED CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEYS, OF PRE-SCHOOL RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS AND TRAFFIC-RELATED AIR POLLUTION

The El Paso Children’s Health Study examined ambient exposures to motor vehicle emissions and their effect on respiratory health among children. In the fall of 1999, a network of passive and active monitors measured indicators of mobile source emissions, including nitrogen dioxide and toluene, from which we developed a predictive geographic information system (GIS) model. In the spring of 2001, the parents of all fourth and fifth grade children enrolled in the El Paso Independent School District received questionnaires, and pulmonary function testing was conducted on a subset of students. Complete questionnaires were obtained for 5763 children and acceptable pulmonary function data were obtained for 1815 children. In preliminary analyses, we have found different health associations among children attending schools on the valley floor (n 2033) and among children attending schools at higher elevations (n 3730). Above 1170 meters, we found a significant association between GIS-modeled toluene exposure and decreased peak flow ( 15% across the range of modeled toluene (5 mg/m3), 95% CI 26%, 2%) after controlling for sex, age, race, height, weight, ethnicity, an interaction between sex and height, interactions between ethnicity and height and weight, parental education and smoking, length of El Paso residence, and the random effect of school. Above 1170 meters, we found that GIS-modeled nitrogen dioxide exposure (10 ppb) was associated with a physician’s diagnosis of bronchitis (odds ratio (OR) 1.56, 95% 0.90 to 2.69) and chronic morning cough (OR 1.53, 95% CI 0.76 to 3.09) adjusted for questionnaire language, sex, age, race, ethnicity, length of El Paso residence, presence of smoker, gas stove with pilot lights, respondent’s sex, single parent family, parental education and parental allergies. Below 1170 meters, we found the suggestion of more adverse health effects for these children as a whole, but no associations with GISmodeled exposures. While not conclusive in themselves, these results for El Paso, Texas are consistent with the findings of previous studies in Europe and southern California that have reported adverse health effects in children associated with indicators of mobile source emissions. This abstract does not necessarily represent EPA policy.