1985/08/20 by Sarah Komisarow, Emily L. Pakhtigian, 裕 長谷川 +8 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Environmental Science · Health Professions · #Air Quality and Health Impacts #Climate Change and Health Impacts #Energy and Environment Impacts #Noise Effects and Management
paper · doi:10.2105/ajph.2021.306155
openalex publication_date 1985/08/20 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
<b>Objectives.</b> 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.<b>Methods.</b> We used data on wind, population, PM<sub>2.5</sub> (particulates measuring ≤ 2.5 µm in 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.<b>Results.</b> 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.<b>Conclusions.</b> Our findings demonstrate that closing coal-fired power plants can lead to improvements in the respiratory health of young children.