Date of Award
Winter 2006
Project Type
Thesis
Program or Major
Earth Sciences
Degree Name
Master of Science
First Advisor
Cameron P Wake
Abstract
Outdoor air pollution has been associated with declines in pulmonary function. We collected daily pulmonary function measures from 165 participants in New England during July and August, 2004 and compared these measures to outdoor air pollution using single and multiple pollutant models. Increases of 10mug/m3 PM2.5, 10 ppb O3, and 1 ppb NO2 were associated with -1.29%, -0.54%, and -0.151 % changes in FEV1 of asthmatic participants spending more than 5 hours outdoors, respectively. Effects for non-asthmatic and all participants spending less than 5 hours outdoors were near zero and not significant. There was also evidence indicating that the largest effects were observed 3 days after the pollution event. Results suggest that asthmatic participants should avoid prolonged exposure to even moderately elevated levels of O3, PM2.5, NO2. We found that measuring the amount of time spent outdoors was important in determining effect estimates.
Recommended Citation
Lambert, Thomas Daniel, "The effect of air pollution and time spent outdoors on pulmonary function in a diverse New England population" (2006). Master's Theses and Capstones. 234.
https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/234