IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 1580: Design of an Air Pollution Monitoring Campaign in Beijing for Application to Cohort Health Studies

IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 1580: Design of an Air Pollution Monitoring Campaign in Beijing for Application to Cohort Health Studies

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph14121580

Authors: Sverre Vedal Bin Han Jia Xu Adam Szpiro Zhipeng Bai

No cohort studies in China on the health effects of long-term air pollution exposure have employed exposure estimates at the fine spatial scales desirable for cohort studies with individual-level health outcome data. Here we assess an array of modern air pollution exposure estimation approaches for assigning within-city exposure estimates in Beijing for individual pollutants and pollutant sources to individual members of a cohort. Issues considered in selecting specific monitoring data or new monitoring campaigns include: needed spatial resolution, exposure measurement error and its impact on health effect estimates, spatial alignment and compatibility with the cohort, and feasibility and expense. Sources of existing data largely include administrative monitoring data, predictions from air dispersion or chemical transport models and remote sensing (specifically satellite) data. New air monitoring campaigns include additional fixed site monitoring, snapshot monitoring, passive badge or micro-sensor saturation monitoring and mobile monitoring, as well as combinations of these. Each of these has relative advantages and disadvantages. It is concluded that a campaign in Beijing that at least includes a mobile monitoring component, when coupled with currently available spatio-temporal modeling methods, should be strongly considered. Such a campaign is economical and capable of providing the desired fine-scale spatial resolution for pollutants and sources.

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