Sarah Komisarow is with the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC. Emily L. Pakhtigian is with the School of Public Policy, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Am J Public Health. 2021 May;111(5):881-889. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306155. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
To investigate the effects of coal-fired power plant closures on zip code-level rates of emergency department visits for asthma-related conditions among 0- to 4-year-old children in Chicago, Illinois. We used data on wind, population, PM (particulates measuring ≤ 2.5 µm in diameter), and zip code-level rates of emergency department visits for asthma-related conditions among 0- to 4-year-old children between 2009 and 2017 in Chicago. The difference-in-differences research design compared rates of emergency department visits in zip codes near 3 coal-fired power plants before and after their closures to rates in zip codes farther away during the same time period. We found that emergency department visits for asthma-related conditions among 0- to 4-year-old children decreased by 12% in zip codes near the 3 coal-fired power plants following their closures relative to rates in zip codes farther away during the same period. The crude and age-specific rates of emergency department visits decreased by 2.41 visits per ten thousand inhabitants and 35.63 visits per ten thousand children aged 0 to 4 years, respectively. Our findings demonstrate that closing coal-fired power plants can lead to improvements in the respiratory health of young children.
为了调查燃煤电厂关闭对伊利诺伊州芝加哥市 0 至 4 岁儿童因哮喘相关疾病到急诊就诊的邮政编码级率的影响。我们使用了 2009 年至 2017 年期间芝加哥市有关 0 至 4 岁儿童因哮喘相关疾病到急诊就诊的风速、人口、PM（直径≤2.5 µm 的颗粒物）以及邮政编码级率的数据。差异中的差异研究设计比较了 3 家燃煤电厂关闭前后附近邮政编码与同期较远邮政编码的急诊就诊率。我们发现，与同期较远邮政编码的就诊率相比，燃煤电厂关闭后，附近邮政编码的 0 至 4 岁儿童因哮喘相关疾病到急诊就诊的比率下降了 12%。粗急诊就诊率和特定年龄的急诊就诊率分别下降了每万人 2.41 次就诊和每千名 0 至 4 岁儿童 35.63 次就诊。我们的研究结果表明，关闭燃煤电厂可以改善幼儿的呼吸健康。
