Piers MacNaughton, ScD

Chronic absenteeism is associated with poorer academic performance and higher attrition in kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12) schools. In prior research, students who were chronically absent generally had fewer employment opportunities and worse health after graduation. We examined the impact that environmental factors surrounding schools have on chronic absenteeism. We estimated the greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)) and fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5)… Show more

Chronic absenteeism is associated with poorer academic performance and higher attrition in kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12) schools. In prior research, students who were chronically absent generally had fewer employment opportunities and worse health after graduation. We examined the impact that environmental factors surrounding schools have on chronic absenteeism. We estimated the greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)) and fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) within 250 m and 1000 m respectively of each public school in Massachusetts during the 2012–2013 academic year using satellite-based data. We modeled chronic absenteeism rates in the same year as a function of PM2.5 and NDVI, controlling for race and household income. Among the 1772 public schools in Massachusetts, a 0.15 increase in NDVI during the academic year was associated with a 2.6% (p value < 0.0001) reduction in chronic absenteeism rates, and a 1 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 during the academic year was associated with a 1.58% (p value < 0.0001) increase in chronic absenteeism rates. Based on these percentage changes in chronic absenteeism, a 0.15 increase in NDVI and 1 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 correspond to 25,837 fewer students and 15,852 more students chronically absent each year in Massachusetts respectively. These environmental impacts on absenteeism reinforce the need to protect green spaces and reduce air pollution around schools. Show less

Green buildings are designed to have low environmental impacts and improved occupant health and well-being. Improvements to the built environment including ventilation, lighting, and materials have resulted in improved indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in green buildings, but the evidence around occupant health is currently centered around environmental perceptions and self-reported health. To investigate the objective impact of green buildings on health, we tracked IEQ, self-reported health… Show more

Green buildings are designed to have low environmental impacts and improved occupant health and well-being. Improvements to the built environment including ventilation, lighting, and materials have resulted in improved indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in green buildings, but the evidence around occupant health is currently centered around environmental perceptions and self-reported health. To investigate the objective impact of green buildings on health, we tracked IEQ, self-reported health, and heart rate in 30 participants from green and conventional buildings for two weeks. 24 participants were then selected to be relocated to the Syracuse Center of Excellence, a LEED platinum building, for six workdays. While they were there, ventilation, CO2, and volatile organic compound (VOC) levels were changed on different days to match the IEQ of conventional, green, and green+ (green with increased ventilation) buildings. Participants reported improved air quality, odors, thermal comfort, ergonomics, noise and lighting and fewer health symptoms in green buildings prior to relocation. After relocation, participants consistently reported fewer symptoms during the green building conditions compared to the conventional one, yet symptom counts were more closely associated with environmental perceptions than with measured IEQ. On average, participants had 4.7 times the odds of reporting a lack of air movement, 43% more symptoms (p-value = 0.019) and a 2 bpm higher heart rate (p-value < 0.001) for a 1000 ppm increase in indoor CO2 concentration. These findings suggest that occupant health in green and conventional buildings is driven by both environmental perceptions and physiological pathways. Show less

BACKGROUND:
Smoke-free housing policies have the potential to reduce secondhand smoke (SHS) exposures for residents of multi-unit housing. Since common areas represent a pathway of SHS movement between units, smoke-free policies would be expected to reduce SHS in these microenvironments.
METHODS:
Week-long air nicotine and PM2.5 (particulate matter below 2.5μm in aerodynamic diameter) samples were collected in the common areas of 10 Boston Housing Authority (BHA) and 6 Cambridge… Show more

BACKGROUND:
Smoke-free housing policies have the potential to reduce secondhand smoke (SHS) exposures for residents of multi-unit housing. Since common areas represent a pathway of SHS movement between units, smoke-free policies would be expected to reduce SHS in these microenvironments.
METHODS:
Week-long air nicotine and PM2.5 (particulate matter below 2.5μm in aerodynamic diameter) samples were collected in the common areas of 10 Boston Housing Authority (BHA) and 6 Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) buildings from January 2012 to October 2013. We also measured one outdoor PM level at each study building. Samples from BHA included pre and post- smoke-free policy measurements. Each development was visited three times over the course of the study period. The effect of the smoking ban on indoor PM2.5 was examined using generalized mixed effect models to accommodate repeated measurement at each site. Changes in nicotine concentrations were modeled using quantile mixed regression to reduce the impact of outliers.
RESULTS:
After controlling for season, site, and background PM2.5 concentrations, PM2.5 levels were 4.05μg/m(3) (p-value=0.09) lower in BHA after the smoke-free policy was implemented in the summer of 2012, compared with CHA developments, which had no smoking policy in place. Similarly, nicotine levels decreased by 57% (p-value=0.08) in Boston relative to Cambridge after the ban.
CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings support the use of smoke-free policies as an effective tool to reduce SHS exposure and protect non-smokers, especially residents of multi-unit housing. Show less

Thirty years of public health research have demonstrated that improved indoor environmental quality is associated with better health outcomes. Recent research has demonstrated an impact of the indoor environment on cognitive function. We recruited 109 participants from 10 high-performing buildings (i.e. buildings surpassing the ASHRAE Standard 62.1–2010 ventilation requirement and with low total volatile organic compound concentrations) in five U.S. cities. In each city, buildings were matched… Show more

Thirty years of public health research have demonstrated that improved indoor environmental quality is associated with better health outcomes. Recent research has demonstrated an impact of the indoor environment on cognitive function. We recruited 109 participants from 10 high-performing buildings (i.e. buildings surpassing the ASHRAE Standard 62.1–2010 ventilation requirement and with low total volatile organic compound concentrations) in five U.S. cities. In each city, buildings were matched by week of assessment, tenant, type of worker and work functions. A key distinction between the matched buildings was whether they had achieved green certification. Workers were administered a cognitive function test of higher order decision-making performance twice during the same week while indoor environmental quality parameters were monitored. Workers in green certified buildings scored 26.4% (95% CI: [12.8%, 39.7%]) higher on cognitive function tests, controlling for annual earnings, job category and level of schooling, and had 30% fewer sick building symptoms than those in non-certified buildings. These outcomes may be partially explained by IEQ factors, including thermal conditions and lighting, but the findings suggest that the benefits of green certification standards go beyond measureable IEQ factors. We describe a holistic “buildingomics” approach for examining the complexity of factors in a building that influence human health. Show less

Indoor air quality is an important predictor of health, especially in low-income populations. It is unclear how recent trends in “green” building affect the indoor exposure profile. In two successive years, we conducted environmental sampling, home inspections, and health questionnaires with families in green and conventional (control) apartments in two public housing developments. A subset of participants was followed as they moved from conventional to green or conventional to conventional… Show more

Indoor air quality is an important predictor of health, especially in low-income populations. It is unclear how recent trends in “green” building affect the indoor exposure profile. In two successive years, we conducted environmental sampling, home inspections, and health questionnaires with families in green and conventional (control) apartments in two public housing developments. A subset of participants was followed as they moved from conventional to green or conventional to conventional housing. We measured particulate matter less than 2.5 μm aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nicotine, carbon dioxide (CO2), and air exchange rate (AER) over a sevenday sampling period coincident with survey administration. In multivariate models, we observed 57%, 65%, and 93% lower concentrations of PM2.5, NO2, and nicotine (respectively) in green vs control homes (p = 0.032, p < 0.001, p = 0.003, respectively), as well as fewer reports of mold, pests, inadequate ventilation, and stuffiness. Differences in formaldehyde and CO2 were not statistically significant. AER was marginally lower in green buildings (p = 0.109). Participants in green homes experienced 47% fewer sick building syndrome symptoms (p < 0.010). We observed significant decreases in multiple indoor exposures and improved health outcomes among participants who moved into green housing, suggesting multilevel housing interventions have the potential to improve long-term resident health. Show less

Cyclists are exposed to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) during their commutes due to their proximity to vehicular traffic. Two of the main components of TRAP are black carbon (BC) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which have both been causally associated with increased mortality. To assess the impact of cyclists' exposure to TRAP, a battery-powered mobile monitoring station was designed to sample air pollutants along five bike routes in Boston, Massachusetts. The bike routes were categorized… Show more

Cyclists are exposed to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) during their commutes due to their proximity to vehicular traffic. Two of the main components of TRAP are black carbon (BC) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which have both been causally associated with increased mortality. To assess the impact of cyclists' exposure to TRAP, a battery-powered mobile monitoring station was designed to sample air pollutants along five bike routes in Boston, Massachusetts. The bike routes were categorized into three types: bike paths, which are separated from vehicle traffic; bike lanes, which are adjacent to traffic; and designated bike lanes, which are shared traffic lanes for buses and cyclists. Bike lanes were found to have significantly higher concentrations of BC and NO2 than bike paths in both adjusted and unadjusted generalized linear models. Higher concentrations were observed in designated bike lanes than bike paths; however, this association was only significant for NO2. After adjusting for traffic density, background concentration, and proximity to intersections, bike lanes were found to have concentrations of BC and NO2 that were approximately 33% higher than bike paths. Distance from the road, vegetation barriers, and reduced intersection density appear to influence these variations. These findings suggest that cyclists can reduce their exposure to TRAP during their commute by using bike paths preferentially over bike lanes regardless of the potential increase of traffic near these routes. Show less