Is it feasible to construct a community profile of exposure to industrial air pollution?
Tanja Pless-Mullolia, Christine E Dunnb, Raj Bhopala, Peter Phillimorec, Suzanne Moffatta, John Edwardsd
a Department of
Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Health Sciences, University
of Newcastle, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK, b Department of Geography, University of Durham,
Durham DH1 3LE, UK, c Department of Social Policy, University of
Newcastle, NE1 7RU, UK, d Department
of Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Flinders University of
South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, Australia
Correspondence to: Dr Tanja-Pless-Mulloli Tanja-Pless-Mulloli{at}ncl.ac.uk
Accepted 17 March 2000
OBJECTIVE
An
epidemiological investigation to assess the validity of residential
proximity to industry as a measure of community exposure.
METHODS19
Housing estates in Teesside (population 1991: 77 330) in north east
England were grouped into zones: A=near; B=intermediate; C=further from
industry. With residential proximity of socioeconomically matched
populations as a starting point a historical land use survey,
historical air quality reports, air quality monitoring, dispersion
modelling data, and questionnaire data, were examined.
RESULTSThe
populations in zones A, B, and C were similar for socioeconomic
indicators and smoking history. Areas currently closest to
industry had also been closest for most of the 20th century. Historical
reports highlighted the influence of industrial emissions to local air
quality, but it was difficult to follow spatial pollution patterns over
time. Whereas contemporary NOx and benzene concentrations showed no geographical variation, dispersion modelling of emissions (116 industrial stacks, traffic, and domestic sources) showed a
gradient associated with industry. The presumed exposure gradient of
areas by proximity to industry (A>B>C) was evident for all of zone A
and most of zones B and C.
CONCLUSIONSIt was
feasible to assemble a picture of community exposure by integration of
measurements from different sources. Proximity of residence was a
reasonable surrogate for complex community exposure.
Keywords: exposure assessment; community exposure; industrial pollution
© 2000 by Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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