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Multipollutant Mixtures

For the past decade, understanding of the health effects of the air pollution mixture has been a top priority, following recommendations that the nation should begin the shift from a one-pollutant-at-a-time perspective to a multipollutant perspective. Yet challenges remain substantial: designing studies that systematically investigate a range of pollutants and their potential independent, synergistic, and antagonistic effects is difficult, and made more difficult by a lack of available statistical techniques to allow consideration of the effects of more than a few pollutants at a time.

Smog in city
  • Ambient air consists of multiple pollutants from diverse sources, both natural and man-made
  • It’s difficult to find out which components or sources of the mixture lead to adverse effects
  • Advanced statistical methods to disentangle effects of multiple pollutants
  • Studies of large populations to provide insight into effects below the current air quality standards