EPA currently considering new, stronger limits on PM2.5 air pollution which would protect health of all Americans

Stronger regulations lowering levels of fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5) would benefit the health of all Americans, but Black Americans and low-income Americans would likely reap the most benefits, including a lower risk of premature death, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and the University of Colorado. The findings are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.(link is external and opens in a new window)

“The EPA is currently considering stronger rules for PM2.5 air pollution and the decision will have profound effects on ensuring all Americans have an equal opportunity to breathe clean air,” said co-lead author Scott Delaney, research associate in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School. “Our research shows that, while stronger rules will protect all aging Americans from air pollution, those harmed the most by air pollution will benefit the most—and that these benefits may be larger than prior research suggests.”

The study is the first to examine how groups defined simultaneously by both racial identity and socioeconomic position differ in their exposure and susceptibility to PM2.5 air pollution. 

Researchers utilized Medicare data from more than 73 million Americans ages 65 and older between 2000 and 2016—amounting to 623 million person-years analyzed according to racial identity (Black or white), income level (Medicaid eligible or ineligible), and annual average PM2.5 exposure by zip code. 

The results showed that all aging Americans’ risk of premature death would decrease with stronger air pollution rules, but that Black higher-income, Black low-income, and white low-income adults may benefit more than white higher-income adults. Currently, the EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for annual average PM2.5 levels is 12 μg/m3. The researchers found that if that standard was lowered to 8 μg/m3, the result would be an estimated 4 percent reduction of mortality rate for higher-income whites, while for marginalized communities it would be considerably higher: 7 percent for Black higher-income and 6 percent for both white low-income and Black low-income adults.

“Setting the strongest possible NAAQS for PM2.5 pollution is critical to protect the health of the public, particularly the health of the most vulnerable members of our communities.“ said Xiao Wu, assistant professor of biostatistics (link is external and opens in a new window)at Columbia Mailman School and a co-author. “Furthermore, the steps needed to mitigate the disastrous effects of climate change in the future are substantially overlapped with those needed to reduce the health burdens of air pollution in the present.”

“The EPA has a huge opportunity,” said senior author Francesca Dominici, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science and co-director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative. “We have a shared responsibility to safeguard the air we breathe and to protect our more vulnerable community members from the effects of climate change. Bold action from the EPA to establish a substantially stronger NAAQS for PM2.5 air pollution is a pragmatic, proven way to clean up our air, reduce the impact of climate change on human health, and drive innovative climate change solutions.”

Co-authors include Other Harvard Chan co-authors included Kevin P. Josey, Rachel C. Nethery, and Danielle Braun, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and Priyanka DeSouza, University of Colorado, Denver.

The study “Air pollution and mortality at the intersection of race and social class,” was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Sloan Foundation.

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Pregnant, low-income New Yorkers living in neighborhoods with higher levels of air pollution were 60 percent more likely to test positive for COVID-19, according to a new study led by scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Study results appear in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The researchers examined the relationship between 3,318 pregnant individuals’ COVID-19 test results and their long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5). COVID testing was done for everyone at the time of delivery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, March–December 2020. Exposure estimates were based on location-specific air pollution data between 2018 and 2019 at participant residences. Results were adjusted to account for individual- and neighborhood-level socioeconomic status.

They found no association between PM2.5 and ever testing positive for COVID-19 for everyone in the study group. However, odds of testing positive were 60 percent higher for each 1 μg/m3 increase in long-term PM2.5 among those using Medicaid health coverage for low-income Americans. While only 22 percent of those testing positive reported symptoms, 69 percent of symptomatic individuals used Medicaid.

Pregnant persons with COVID-19 are more likely to experience significant respiratory morbidity and more likely to die than non-pregnant persons with COVID-19. Pregnant persons with COVID-19 are also more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preterm delivery, preeclampsia, and possibly stillbirth. Exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy has been shown to increase risk of preterm birth, as well as delivery of a low-birth-weight neonate.

Large-scale epidemiologic studies reveal consistent associations between higher long-term PM2.5 concentrations and increased risk of acute respiratory infection in the general population.

“COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated existing health disparities. Low-income pregnant people may have been more likely to test positive for the virus and be symptomatic due to more exposure on the job or inability to isolate, as well as heightened exposure to a range of environmental pollutants,” says first author Joan Casey, PhD, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

Study co-authors include Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou, Jeffrey Shaman, Sasikiran Kandula of Columbia Mailman; Andreas Neophytou of Colorado State University; Elizabeth L. Ogburn, Kristin C. Darwin, and Jeanne S. Sheffield of Johns Hopkins University; and Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

The research was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grants ES027023 and ES009089).

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