2014 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
低炭素社会による大気汚染物質濃度低減を介した健康へのインパクトの定量化手法の開発
| Project/Area Number |
13F03501
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
渡辺 知保 東京大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (70220902)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NG Chris Fook Sheng 東京大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
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| Keywords | health impact / air pollution / low carbon society |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Research on the effect of carbon emission control on human health is very limited. This study aims to quantify the health impact of low carbon development in relation to the short-term exposure to air particulate matter.
From April 2014 to March 2015, we have investigated the association between particulate matter (PM) and pollen allergy, and found that high level of PM could exacerbate the effect of pollen on pollinosis. This first evidence in Japan highlights the importance to understand the modifying effect of PM.
We have also examined the effect of PM on mental health using existing data in Japan. Findings suggest short-term exposure to atmospheric PM may influence the mental state of susceptible individuals. This implies that emission control may have favorable influence on the mental health.
For the use of Malaysian hospital admission data, we have obtained ethics approval from the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH). We have acquired the daily admission data and are currently cleaning the data for merging with other environmental variables. In December 2014, we have conducted meetings with collaborators from MOH, University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Institute of Medical Research (IMR) to discuss issues related to data. We have also obtained the data for air pollutant and weather variables and are currently preparing them for merging with the outcome variable. We have conducted a meeting at the Kyoto University to discuss the spatial data for PM which is needed to assess the impact of emission control. Data analysis is currently ongoing.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Through collaboration with the researchers from Malaysia, we have successfully obtained almost all data for this study and are currently merging the variables for an epidemiological study to assess the health impact of short-term exposure to air particulate matter under low carbon development scenario. We are currently working closely with the collaborators in Malaysia to expedite the acquisition of the daily mortality data, which is the second health endpoint for our study. We note that the study can be completed without the second endpoint, if the data cannot be obtained from the government of Malaysia.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
For the period between April and September 2015, we will be conducting data cleaning, merging, and analyses for the hospital admission data to estimate the relative risk for specific causes of admission in relation to the exposure to ambient particles. We will work with collaborators at Kyoto University to compute the differences in hospital admissions attributable to exposure to PM under different emission scenarios. We will arrange a meeting with the collaborators in Malaysia for a discussion regarding to data interpretation and the writing of manuscript. As for daily mortality cases as the alternative health endpoint for this study, if the data is not obtainable from the government of Malaysia by June 2015, we will consider focusing on the hospital admission data as the only health endpoint for health impact assessment.
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