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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 110, No. 1: 27-40
Copyright © 1979 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

research-article

IDENTIFYING A SUSCEPTIBLE SUBGROUP: EFFECTS OF THE PITTSBURGH AIR POLLUTION EPISODE UPON SCHOOLCHILDREN1

JAMES H. STEBBINGS, JR. 2 and DIANE G. FOGLEMAN 3

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Pulmonary function test results on 224 parochial schoolchildren collected during and after the Pittsburgh air pollution episode of November 1975 were reanalyzed to determine whether a small subgroup of susceptible children could be defined. Individual regressions of three-quarter second forced expiratory volumes (FEV75) and forced vital capacities (FVC) on time over the six-day study period were calculated, and the distributions of Individual slopes for the four exposed and two control schools were compared. Excesses of strong upward trends in the exposed areas would suggest effects of suspended particulate air pollution by indicating significant Improvement following the episode. A highly statistically significant excess of strong upward trends in the FVC among exposed students was observed, and was consistent by sex and by school within sex. Approximately 10–15% of the students appear susceptible to an average Impairment of about 20% of the FVC. The findings are limited by the small number of subjects with strong post-episode upward trends In the FVC, and by lack of validation by replication of the study design, but do suggest that episode levels of suspended particulates Induce lung damage, and that this may occur only in a small susceptible subgroup. Children with low baseline pulmonary function values, histories of asthma, or with acute respiratory symptoms immediately following the episode were not found to be especially susceptible to these effects of suspended particulates.

air pollution; asthma; environmental pollution; lung volume measurements; respiratory function tests; regression analysis

1 From the Population Studies Division, Mail Drop No. 53, Health Effects Research Laboratory, Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711.

2 Present address: Health Research Division, H-DO, MS404, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM.

3 Present address: Occupational Medicine Division, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Hygiene and Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD.


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