title: Comparing land use regression and dispersion modelling to assess residential exposure to ambient air pollution for epidemiological studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Land-use regression (LUR) and dispersion models (DM) are commonly used for estimating individual air pollution exposure in population studies. Few comparisons have however been made of the performance of these methods.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Within the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) we explored the differences between LUR and DM estimates for NO2, PM10 and PM2.5.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ESCAPE study developed LUR models for outdoor air pollution levels based on a harmonised monitoring campaign. In thirteen ESCAPE study areas we further applied dispersion models. We compared LUR and DM estimates at the residential addresses of participants in 13 cohorts for NO2; 7 for PM10 and 4 for PM2.5. Additionally, we compared the DM estimates with measured concentrations at the 20-40 ESCAPE monitoring sites in each area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median Pearson R (range) correlation coefficients between LUR and DM estimates for the annual average concentrations of NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 were 0.75 (0.19-0.89), 0.39 (0.23-0.66) and 0.29 (0.22-0.81) for 112,971 (13 study areas), 69,591 (7) and 28,519 (4) addresses respectively. The median Pearson R correlation coefficients (range) between DM estimates and ESCAPE measurements were of 0.74 (0.09-0.86) for NO2; 0.58 (0.36-0.88) for PM10 and 0.58 (0.39-0.66) for PM2.5.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  LUR and dispersion model estimates correlated on average well for NO2 but only moderately for PM10 and PM2.5, with large variability across areas. DM predicted a moderate to large proportion of the measured variation for NO2 but less for PM10 and PM2.5.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: c.dehoogh@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Kees
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: de Hoogh
authors.affiliation: MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Michal
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authors.lastname: Korek
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vienneau
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Organization for Applied Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Menno
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authors.affiliation: Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jaakko
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authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain; IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Nieuwenhuijsen
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Department, Lazio Regional Health Service, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
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authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80178, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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authors.affiliation: Environmental Protection Agency, Lazio Region, Italy.
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authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Department, Lazio Regional Health Service, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulia
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authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain; IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: Marta Cirach
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pradas
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institutes of Epidemiology I and II, Neuherberg, Germany; University of Augsburg, Environmental Science Center, Augsburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
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authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: John
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authors.lastname: Douros
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80178, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marloes
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authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Department, Lazio Regional Health Service, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
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authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Bertil
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Forsberg
authors.affiliation: IUF Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Kateryna
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authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80178, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ulrike
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authors.lastname: Gehring
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Alexandros
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authors.lastname: Gryparis
authors.affiliation: MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: John
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authors.lastname: Gulliver
authors.affiliation: MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom; Directorate of Public Health and Primary Care, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: Anna L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hansell
authors.affiliation: IUF Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Environmental Science, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christer
authors.initials: C
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authors.affiliation: Netherlands Organization for Applied Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jonkers
authors.affiliation: Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Leena
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authors.lastname: Kangas
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece; Department of Primary Care & Public Health Sciences and Environmental Research Group, King's College London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Klea
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katsouyanni
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nino
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Künzli
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Timo
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authors.affiliation: Rhenish Institute for Environmental Research (RIU), Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
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authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Nicolas
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authors.lastname: Moussiopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars
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authors.lastname: Modig
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pershagen
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Probst-Hensch
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schindler
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; IUF Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schikowski
authors.affiliation: IUF Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Dorothee
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authors.lastname: Sugiri
authors.affiliation: Energy and Air quality Department, Barcelona Regional, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Oriol
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Teixidó
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.
authors.forename: Ming-Yi
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Tarja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yli-Tuomi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80178, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands; Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brunekreef
authors.affiliation: Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80178, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hoek
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Centre for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden.
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mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008962:Models, Theoretical
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants
keywords: Air pollution; Cohort; Dispersion modelling; Exposure; Land use regression