Global Research

With supplemental financial support from foundations and international organizations, HEI has worked carefully for many years to extend its work in the United States to Europe, where science is often directly relevant to the U.S., and to the developed world, to provide credible, policy relevant science and capacity building to inform air quality decisions in the developing nations of Asia and Latin America.

HEI has attracted significant additional support for its international work from foundations, international organizations, the European Union and industry. In Europe, for example, HEI worked in partnership with WHO on Air Quality Guidelines, and with the European Union on multi-investigator studies of air pollution and health in North America and Europe (APHENA). In Asia, with added support from domestic and international foundations, HEI implemented the Public Health and Air Pollution In Asia (PAPA) program (see several research reports and a comprehensive review comprehensive review of the Asian literature on air pollution and health). We have also conducted the first major multi-country, multi-investigator studies in Latin America (ESCALA). Additional studies in countries outside the US are funded through our competitive research selection process.

Ongoing Studies

Identifying the shape of the association between long-term exposure to low levels of ambient air pollution and the risk of mortality: An extension of the Canadian Census Health and Environment Cohort using innovative data linkage and exposure methodology

Michael Brauer

University of British Columbia, Canada

This study will investigate mortality effects of low levels of air pollution in Canada using Canadian Census data from about 6 million people. The shape of the exposure-response function will be characterized using newly developed flexible non-linear exposure-response functions. See also this Program Summary of HEI's research program on low levels of air pollution.

Mortality and morbidity effects of long-term exposure to low-level PM2.5, Black Carbon, NO2 and O3: an analysis of European cohorts

Bert Brunekreef

University of Utrecht, Netherlands

This study will investigate health effects of low levels of air pollution in Europe using pooled data from 10 ESCAPE cohorts with individual covariate information, and 6 large administrative cohorts with less detailed information; resulting in a study population of about 25 million people. See also this Program Summary of HEI's research program on low levels of air pollution.

Air Pollution, Autism spectrum disorders, and brain imaging amongst CHildren in Europe – the APACHE project

Mònica Guxens

ISGlobal, Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Barcelona, Spain

This New Investigator Award study will evaluate whether prenatal air pollution exposure at different time windows is associated with development of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and whether prenatal and postnatal air pollution exposure is associated with changes in brain structure and function in children. Dr. Guxens hypothesizes that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy may be related to an increased risk of ASDs, but not with an increased risk of autistic traits (subclinical deficits that do not meet formal criteria for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis).

Real-world vehicle emission characterization for the Shing Mun Tunnel in Hong Kong and Ft. McHenry Tunnel in the US

Xiaoliang Wang

Desert Reseach Institute

This study is characterizing vehicle emission in two tunnels with different proportions of diesel and gasoline vehicles, measuring fleet average emission factors for a number of pollutants and comparing the results to previous tunnel studies.

You are here