Why study health?
Health disparities are a defining feature of life in Baltimore. As reported by the Baltimore Health Department in 2017, there is nearly a 20-year difference in life expectancy between some neighborhoods in Baltimore. The reasons are likely due to a combination of factors: poverty, stress, racial inequities, healthcare access and education, and, possibly environmental conditions, including exposure to climate extremes. As Baltimore summers grow hotter and as climate change brings other hazards, health disparities could worsen. Those with the least resources are more vulnerable as they are typically more exposed to the hazards and are more likely to have preexisting health conditions.
How do the issues you study show up in Baltimore?
Asthma is a significant health issue in Baltimore. The rate of childhood asthma is 20%, more than double the national rate of 9%. Asthma risk has a number of drivers, including family history, allergies, respiratory infections, smoking, and other co-existing health conditions, but it is also strongly tied to air pollution, and potentially to interactions between air pollution and heat. More than 1 in 3 Americans live in places with unhealthy air; people of color are more than twice as likely to do so. More heat leads to more chemical reactions in the air, leading to more pollution. How can we work toward easier breathing for Baltimore residents in a time of heating?
Guiding questions for research
- How does climate and climate change affect asthma associated with urban air pollution?
- How does the built environment affect relationships between outdoor and indoor heat and air quality?
- What are the relative roles of atmospheric processes and of vehicle and stationary emissions in creating high asthma risk?
- How does urban greening affect asthma risks, and how can green infrastructure be optimized for this purpose?
Sample project
How does extreme heat affect emergency room visits for asthma? National Weather Service (NWS) data, which typically comes from one or a few weather stations per city, doesn’t allow researchers to look at the variability of heat across a city. So BSEC researchers worked with the Johns Hopkins Asthma Precision Medicine Center of Excellence (PMCOE) to correlate the addresses of patients with temperature data from a network of low-cost temperature sensors, satellite data, and NWS data. Using this more detailed information, they saw increased numbers of emergency room visits for asthma when there had been a heatwave with especially high nighttime temperatures in the preceding week, compared to days that didn’t follow a heat wave.
Team co-leads
Meredith McCormack and Kirsten Koehler, Johns Hopkins University
Kristin Sznajder, Penn State University