Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Volume 111, Issue 5, Pages 881-889Publisher
AMER PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOC INC
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306155
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Funding
- NICHD NIH HHS [P2C HD065563] Funding Source: Medline
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Closing coal-fired power plants in Chicago led to a 12% decrease in emergency department visits for asthma-related conditions among 0- to 4-year-old children in nearby zip codes. The study showed that such closures can result in improvements in the respiratory health of young children.
Objectives. 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. Methods. We used data on wind, population, PM2.5 (particulates measuring <= 2.5 mu min 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. Results. 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. Conclusions. Our findings demonstrate that closing coal-fired power plants can lead to improvements in the respiratory health of young children.
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