SHORT NOTE OF MEETING 23rd FEBRUARY 2007

Matters arising

1. The sub-group looking at the WHO Children's Health report were collating views by correspondence. The sub-group report would be considered at the June meeting.

2. The report on 'Does air pollution cause asthma?' would be published in sections, with sections on epidemiology and on studies of the effect of proximity to traffic being published first.

3. The chapter from the ozone report on the effects of long-term exposure to ozone on mortality and morbidity would be placed on the website at the same time as the forthcoming QUARK 2 report on long-term exposure to air pollution on mortality.

4. The Royal Society had issued a call for evidence on the effects of ozone. The Secretariat agreed to circulate this.

QUARK 2 Long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality

5. The report on long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality was undergoing final editing before clearance by the Chairman. It would be placed on the COMEAP website for technical comment and would be sent for peer review at the same time. Possible peer reviewers were discussed.

6. The EPA had organised an elicitation exercise along similar lines to that undertaken by Members of the QUARK 2 subgroup to inform their views on uncertainty. The Executive summary of the EPA document would be circulated.

7. Work to calculate the total impact of particles on life expectancy using the coefficients recommended in the QUARK 2 report was ongoing.

QUARK 2 - Long-term exposure to air pollution and morbidity

8. The first meeting of the QUARK 2 subgroup on morbidity took place in December. It had been decided to consider the effects of short-term exposure to air pollution on morbidity at the same time as considering the effects of long-term exposure. Funding for a database of long-term exposure studies to be held at St George's Hospital had been agreed to support the QUARK 2 work on morbidity.

Buncefield

9. The Met Office had published a report 'Dispersion Modelling Studies of the Buncefield Oil Depot Incident' (Portable Document Format - PDF) which included modelling of worst case scenarios with more adverse weather conditions. Some initial calculations of the possible health effects of the increased concentrations in these worst case scenarios were presented. Further work to refine these calculations was suggested. The Health Protection Agency, Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division, London were also undertaking work on the health effects of the incident. This would be presented to the Committee at the June meeting.

Swimming pools and asthma

10. Further papers on the hypothesis that chlorine reaction products from swimming pools were linked to childhood asthma had been published since the Committee's last statement on this subject. These had been circulated to the Committee. The meaning of changes in CC16 (a lung protein) levels in the blood were discussed as were further research needs. An updated statement would be circulated for comment and then finalised at the June meeting.

Lung development in children and exposure to traffic - Gauderman et al (2007)

11. This paper from the Southern California Children's Health Study showed that both living close to motorways and exposure to regional pollution were associated with deficits in lung growth. The Committee are familiar with the work of this well-established research group and with the Southern California Children's Health Study.

12. Various issues were discussed including the means of adjusting for socioeconomic status. There was also some discussion about the distance from the road at which effects were found and how this related to knowledge on falls in air pollution concentrations with distance from a road. The web tables from the paper would be checked for further details on this.

13. It was pointed out that it was difficult to come to conclusions on the basis of one paper alone. The paper would be further considered, along with other papers from this group, in the context of the work of the quantification sub-group on morbidity.

Long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of cardiovascular disease in women - Miller et al (2007)

14. This paper had received particular attention since it suggested a 76% increase in risk of death from cardiovascular disease for a 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5. This was substantially larger than had previously been reported. There were no major criticisms of the study but it was felt that the reasons why such a high coefficient had been found in this study and not in others needed to be understood.

15. The study had used a sub-group of post-menopausal women without previous heart disease rather than the general population but it was unclear whether this was a sufficiently susceptible sub-group to account for the large increase in risk. Advice from COMEAP's expert cardiologist (who was not present at the meeting) would be sought on this point and on the reasons for increased susceptibility in women proposed in the editorial on the article. It was speculated that the risks of air pollution might be higher in those with undiagnosed heart disease who were not being treated with cardiovascular drugs. The Chairman would write to seek the authors' views on this point.

16. It was agreed that this was an important paper and further thought on its implications was needed.

Date of next meeting

17. The next meeting is due to be held on 22nd June 2007. The following meeting will be held on 12th October 2007.

Secretariat
March 2007

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