School absences correlate to impaired air quality
Even mildly elevated air pollution associated with increase in absences
in Salt Lake City

Date:
October 9, 2020
Source:
University of Utah
Summary:
In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality
worsens, and it's not just in times of high pollution or 'red'
air quality days - - even days following lower levels of pollutants
saw increased absences.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality worsens,
and it's not just in times of high pollution or "red" air quality days --
even days following lower levels of pollutions saw increased absences.


========================================================================== Research is still ongoing, and the evidence isn't yet conclusive enough to
draw a cause-and-effect relationship between air quality and children's absences from school but the correlation, according to Daniel Mendoza,
a research assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences
and visiting assistant professor in the Department of City & Metropolitan Planning, merits further exploration. Mendoza and his colleagues published their results in Environmental Research Letters.

Air pollution is harmful for not only the health, but also the education
and well-being of children in our community," says study co-author
Cheryl Pirozzi, assistant professor in the Division of Respiratory,
Critical Care, and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine. "Even at relatively
low levels that many people would not think to be harmful air pollution
is associated with increased school absences." "Any pollution is
bad," Mendoza says. "And these lower levels of pollution, which are
still harmful to our health, have been understudied." The correlation
Mendoza, who also holds appointments as adjunct assistant professor in
the Pulmonary Division at the School of Medicine and as senior scientist
at the NEXUS Institute, and his interdisciplinary colleagues looked at
absence data from 36 schools in the Salt Lake City School District and
compared them with ozone and air particulate matter levels in those neighborhoods from 2015 to 2018.



==========================================================================
This kind of neighborhood-level air quality modeling requires a network
of research-quality air sensors, and such a network has been building
in the Salt Lake Valley over the last several years, operated by the U
and by the state Division of Air Quality. That network includes mobile
sensors on light rail trains as well as stationary research and regulatory grade sensors.

"These are critical because now we can see small nuances, small
differences across neighborhoods," Mendoza says. "Now we can see how one school, for example, had slightly higher or slightly lower values of ozone
and particulate matter. And now, instead of looking at the difference
between green and yellow days, we can actually see small amounts of
variability because of the density of our networks." To understand
the findings, it's important to first review how air quality conditions
are reported. Particulate matter is most often reported as PM2.5, or the
amount of particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microns. These particles can reach the deepest parts of our lungs and may actually pass
into our bloodstream. The unit of measurement is micrograms per cubic
meter (?g/m3).

Ozone is a molecule made from three oxygen atoms and is highly reactive, damaging the respiratory and circulatory systems. It's reported in parts
per billion (ppb).

Although the study looked at elementary, middle and high schools, the
authors write that elementary students may be most vulnerable to health
effects from air pollution.

"Children are particularly susceptible to the health effects of air
pollution," Pirozzi says, "and it is possible that health effects, such
as respiratory tract infections or asthma exacerbations, may lead to them missing more school, which can have long-term consequences for them."
Across the school district, they found, school absences increased by
1.04 per ?g/m3 of particulate matter and by 1.01 per ppb of ozone, even
at levels of air pollution that aren't considered harmful. The worst
increase in absences happened the day after high pollution exposure --
possibly because reactions to high pollution might reduce exposure and
prevent further absences. But on days after low, yet still elevated,
pollution, absences continued to rise on the third, fourth and fifth
days of exposure -- suggesting a cumulative exposure effect, Mendoza says.



==========================================================================
"So what that really leads us to think is that even low levels of
poor air quality can, in a cumulative manner lead to negative health
outcomes -- in this case increased school absences. Even on green air
quality days, when the pollution was just slightly elevated, if we had
several of those days, then kids would still be absent." Additionally,
the researchers write that there may be a disparity between eastside and westside schools. Schools on the west side, with a higher proportion of residents from minority groups, already have a higher rate of absences
than the comparatively more affluent east side and are slightly more
affected by the same level of pollution. The disparity isn't yet
statistically significant, and Mendoza hopes that an interdisciplinary
team can further study these socioeconomic factors.

Mendoza acknowledges that there may be more factors at play that could
account for some of the absences. Poor air quality days in the winter
tend to be colder days, for example, and some children might stay home
to stay out of the cold.

"So we're not saying that this is all due to poor air quality," he
says. "We do know that there are more social and demographic variables at
play here, but we already know the best way to estimate the pollution is
in your zip code is by quantifying the percent of minority residents."
The costs Absences come at a cost to schools, families and the larger
economy. As part of the study, the researchers tried to estimate those
costs.

First, the cost to schools. Using average per-pupil spending, the authors
found that the state spends $41.30 per student per day -- funding that
doesn't benefit a student who's absent.

Next, the cost to families. Often a child staying home from school means
a parent staying home from work. At an average hourly wage of $23.74,
an absence can cost an hourly worker close to $200 a day. For families
who receive free or reduced lunch, the cost of food then reverts to the
family on days home.

And there are costs to the larger economy as well. Factoring in lost
wages, lost taxes and lost productivity due to absences, reducing air
pollution by 50 percent could save Utah's economy around $426,000 per year
just from reducing absences in the Salt Lake School District. This result,
the authors say, shows how reducing school absenteeism can and should
be considered a benefit of improving air quality in the Salt Lake Valley.

"This is definitely not negligible," Mendoza says. "This is a real
definite number, very close to half a million dollars in terms of income
that does not need to be lost."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Utah. Original written
by Paul Gabrielsen.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Daniel L Mendoza, Cheryl S. Pirozzi, Erik T. Crosman, Theodore
G. Liou,
Yue Zhang, Jessica J. Cleeves, Stephen C. Bannister, William R L
Anderegg, Robert Paine III. Impact of low-level fine particulate
matter and ozone exposure on absences in K-12 students and
economic consequences. Environmental Research Letters, 2020; DOI:
10.1088/1748- 9326/abbf7a ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201009131424.htm

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