Asthma exacerbations and traffic: examining relationships using link-based traffic metrics and a comprehensive patient database.
The Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) is a unique community-based medical record data linkage system that provides individual patient address, diagnosis and visit information for all hospitalizations, as well as emergency department, urgent care and outpatient clinic visits for asthma. Proximity to traffic is known to be associated with asthma exacerbations and severity. Our null hypothesis was that there is no association between residential proximity to traffic and asthma exacerbations over eleven years of REP data.



Spatial coordinates of the homes of 19,915 individuals diagnosed with asthma were extracted from the REP database. Three metrics of traffic exposure at residences were calculated from link-based traffic count data. We used exploratory statistics as well as logistic and Poisson regression to examine associations between three traffic metrics at the home address and asthma exacerbations.



Asthma exacerbations increased as traffic levels near the home increased. Proximity to traffic was a significant predictor of asthma exacerbations in logistic and Poisson regressions controlling for age, gender and block group poverty.



Over eleven years in a comprehensive county-wide data set of asthma patients, and after controlling for demographic effects, we found evidence that living in proximity to traffic increased the risk of asthma exacerbations.
Minnesota Department of Health, Chronic Disease and Environmental Epidemiology, PO Box 64882, St. Paul, MN, 55164-0882, USA.
Paula
P
Lindgren
Minnesota Department of Health, Chronic Disease and Environmental Epidemiology, PO Box 64882, St. Paul, MN, 55164-0882, USA.
Jean
J
Johnson
Minnesota Department of Health, Chronic Disease and Environmental Epidemiology, PO Box 64882, St. Paul, MN, 55164-0882, USA.
Allan
A
Williams
Olmsted Medical Center, 210 Ninth Street SE, Rochester, MN, 55904, USA.
Barbara
B
Yawn
Environmental Outcomes Division, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 520 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN, 55155, USA. gregory.pratt@state.mn.us.|Division of Environmental Health, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Mayo Mail Code 197, 420 Delaware St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55455-0381, USA. gregory.pratt@state.mn.us.
Gregory C
0000-0003-0179-6314
GC
Pratt
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D001335:Vehicle Emissions; D055815:Young Adult
D001335:Vehicle Emissions
Asthma; Cross section; Epidemiology; Longitudinal; Traffic