10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Synergy between Power Plant and Vehicle Emissions Produce Aerosols Linked to Adverse Cardiovascular Outcomes
RODNEY J. WEBER, Jenny P.S. Wong, Athanasios Nenes, James Mulholland, Armistead G. Russell, Dongni Ye, Stefanie Ebelt Sarnat, Georgia Institute of Technology
Abstract Number: 542 Working Group: Aerosols and Health - Connecting the Dots
Abstract Multiple studies have linked adverse health effects to particulate metals. A recent epidemiological study from 1998 to 2013 based on hospital emergency department visits in metropolitan Atlanta found that among a range of PM2.5 components tested, water-soluble iron had the strongest estimated effect on cardiovascular outcomes (risk ratio per 20 ng/m3 increase in water-soluble iron is 1.012, with 95 percent confidence interval of 1.005 to 1.019)[1]. Other shorter term studies have shown that vehicle brake or tire wear and road-dust are a major source of iron in Atlanta[2]. Yet over the period of the epidemiological study, the water-soluble iron concentration time-series closely followed trends in sulfate concentration, not total iron. This included tracking both seasonal trends and dramatic changes in sulfate concentration due to specific emission reductions in coal-fired power plants in the past 10 years. To explain the observed trends, we explore the link between iron, sulfate and water-soluble iron through sulfate's influence on particle pH and liquid water content via model simulations spanning the period of 1998 to 2013. These results demonstrate the importance of atmospheric processing on aerosol toxicity and illustrate an unexpected health benefit of coal fired power plant emission reductions.
References 1. Ye, D., et al., Envir. Health Perspectives, in press, 2018. 2. Fang et al., Atm. Chem. Phys., 2015.