Image via WikipediaThe Effects of Particulate Matter Sources on Daily Mortality: A Case-Crossover Study of Barcelona, Spain (28 page pdf, Bart Ostro, Aurelio Tobias, Xavier Querol, Andrés Alastuey, Fulvio Amato, Jorge Pey, Noemí Pérez, Jordi Sunyer, Environ Health Perspect, Aug. 16, 2011)The focus today is on the results of an investigation into eight sources of particulate matter as they impact human health and which ones have the greatest impact. As pointed out, previous research on this topic have been challenged on the second question because the sources tend to be cross-correlated on effect and hard to isolate. Despite this, the article points to sulphur particulates from traffic diesel fuel and minerals from brake wear and road dust as the main culprits.
Key Quotes:
“many PM constituents are highly correlated, are unmeasured or, when measured, have many values below detection levels”
“most major European cities tend to be more densely populated than those in the United States, and have a much greater share of mobile sources utilizing diesel fuel…Barcelona has among the highest population density in the world at approximately 16,000/km2”
“for all-cause mortality and PM2.5, there were significant associations with estimated sources identified as road dust, mineral, fuel oil combustion, vehicle exhaust and traffic. For cardiovascular mortality, associations were also observed for secondary sulfate/organics”
“In considering the eight single source categories of PM2.5, the highest effect estimates for all-cause mortality with excess risks of 4% per their respective interquartile range were observed for the sources vehicle exhaust, road dust and mineral”
“road dust, has significant shares of TC, Fe, Cu and Sb and likely reflects both brake wear and re-entrained particles”
“mineral… several sources for this factor including urban dust, such as construction dust and re-entrained particles from unpaved areas including parking lots and gardens”
“several sources of fine particles are likely important contributors to adverse health outcomes in Barcelona. This includes particles emanating from mobile sources either directly (i.e. vehicle exhaust, secondary nitrate/organics) or indirectly through re-entrainment of road dust, shipping and stationary source emissions (fuel oil combustion, secondary sulfate) and mineral dust”
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