Accountability Assessment of Health Improvements in the United States Associated with Reduced Coal Emissions Between 2005 and 2012.

ABSTRACT:

Background

National, state, and local policies contributed to a 65% reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants between 2005 and 2012 in the United States, providing an opportunity to directly quantify public health benefits attributable to these reductions under an air pollution accountability framework.

Methods

We estimate ZIP code-level changes in two different-but related-exposure metrics: total PM2.5 concentrations and exposure to coal-fired power plant emissions. We associate changes in 10 health outcome rates among approximately 30 million US Medicare beneficiaries with exposure changes between 2005 and 2012 using two difference-in-difference regression approaches designed to mitigate observed and unobserved confounding.

Results

Rates per

SUBMITTER: Henneman LRF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6684053 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature