Air quality and human health - Air Pollution Modeling and Its Application - page 484

7.6 Impact of the NOx SIP Call on Respiratory
Hospitalizations in New York State

Shao Lin 1 , Rena Jones 1 , Cristian Pantea 1 , Valerie C. Garcia 2 , S.T. Rao 2 ,
Syni-An Hwang 1 , and Nancy Kim 1

1

New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA

2

Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Raleigh, NC, USA

1. Background/Objectives

Asthma is a serious public health problem in New York State (NYS), affecting
8.4% (370,000) children and 7.6% (more than 1.1 million) adults. 1 Asthma burden
in New York's urban areas is consistently higher than the national average, with
marked differences in prevalence and severity by socio-economic strata. 2 Poor air
quality from traffic pollution and other sources has consistently been linked to asthma
morbidity. More specifically, nitrogen oxides, criteria pollutants which serve as a
precursor to ozone, have been implicated as a player in respiratory irritation. 3
This study investigated whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-
mandated NOx State Implementation Plan (NOx SIP) in NYS, aiming to reduce
nitrogen oxide emissions from major sources during the summer months, had
an impact on hospitalizations for asthma and other respiratory illnesses. More
specifically, hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases (1997-2006) were
compared during the period before the legislation, during the period of partial
NOx SIP implementation, and post-implementation.

2. Methods

2.1. Population

Several existing data sources were used: (1) the Statewide Planning and Research
Cooperative System (SPARCS) is a legislatively mandated database, maintained
by the NYS Department of Health, of hospital discharges from all hospitals in the
NYS (excluding psychiatric and federal hospitals); and (2) ozone concentrations
kriged to the center-point of a 12 km horizontal grid structure. Ozone data was
provided by the EPA and incorporated air quality data from AIRS, CASTNet and
NAPS monitoring systems, which span the entire Northeastern U.S. and parts of
Canada.