 Minimizing air pollution exposure: A practical policy to protect vulnerable older adults from death and disabilityNick Woodward and Morgan Levine Environmental Science & Policy, 2016, vol. 56, issue C, 49-55 Abstract: Air pollution causes an estimated 200,000 deaths per year in the United States alone. Older adults are at greater risk of mortality caused by air pollution. Here we quantify the number of older adult facilities in Los Angeles County who are exposed to high levels of traffic derived air pollution, and propose policy solutions to reduce pollution exposure to this vulnerable subgroup. Distances between 20,362 intersections and 858 elder care facilities were estimated, and roads or highways within 500 of facilities were used to estimate traffic volume exposure. Of the 858 facilities, 54 were located near at least one major roadway, defined as a traffic volume over 100,000 cars per day. These 54 facilities house approximately 6000 older adults. Following standards established for schools, we recommend legislation mandating the placement of new elder care facilities a minimum of 500ft from major roadways in order to reduce unnecessary mortality risk from pollution exposure. Keywords: Particulate matter; Older adult; Air pollution; Ultrafine; Cardiovascular disease; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enscpo:v:56:y:2016:i:c:p:49-55 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2015.10.018 Access Statistics for this article Environmental Science & Policy is currently edited by M. Beniston More articles in Environmental Science & Policy from Elsevier |
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