Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/10067

Prior to May 2024, previously known as the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health.

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Author: search.filters.author.Crnosija, Natalie

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    ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES AND CHILDREN’S HEALTH
    (2024) Crnosija, Natalie; Payne-Sturges, Devon C.; Puett, Robin C.; Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Climate change-driven physicochemical exposures, like extreme heat, wildfire and hurricanes are increasingly being investigated in the public health literature for their potential association with health outcomes. It is important to investigate children’s health specifically in the context of the exposures, as children’s physiological immaturity can make them uniquely vulnerable to these stressors because of their limited adaptive capacity. This dissertation investigates three distinct epidemiologic questions within this sphere, examining: 1) whether Extreme Heat Event Exposure associates with Kindergarteners’ Reading and Mathematics Performance, 2) whether wildfire smoke exposure affects respiratory/cardiovascular pediatric inpatient hospitalization in Alaska, 2015-2019, and 3) the association between exposure to Hurricane Irma and Internalizing, Externalizing and Total Problem Behaviors Among South Floridian Adolescents. Data for each of these studies was obtained from different sources, including the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort, hospital administrative data from the Alaska Department of Health and the NIH’s Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Where appropriate, external data was linked to these datasets as a means of linking exposures to health outcome data. In the first study, we found weak evidence of an association between exposure to lagged extreme heat events and children’s performance on kindergarteners’ mathematics and reading performance. In the second study, we observed a number of nonsignificant, minor associations between wildfire smoke exposure and respiratory and cardiovascular inpatient hospitalization among Alaskan children. In the third study, we observed a number of nonsignificant, minor associations between exposure to Hurricane Irma and internalizing, externalizing and total problem behaviors using data from Baseline and Wave 2 of the ABCD study. In summary, this research indicates the need for larger, more robust samples to investigate children’s health outcomes.
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    Laboratory Chamber Evaluation of Flow Air Quality Sensor PM2.5 and PM10 Measurements
    (MDPI, 2022-06-15) Crnosija, Natalie; Zamora, Misti Levy; Rule, Ana M.; Payne-Sturges, Devon
    The emergence of low-cost air quality sensors as viable tools for the monitoring of air quality at population and individual levels necessitates the evaluation of these instruments. The Flow air quality tracker, a product of Plume Labs, is one such sensor. To evaluate these sensors, we assessed 34 of them in a controlled laboratory setting by exposing them to PM10 and PM2.5 and compared the response with Plantower A003 measurements. The overall coefficient of determination (R2) of measured PM2.5 was 0.76 and of PM10 it was 0.73, but the Flows’ accuracy improved after each introduction of incense. Overall, these findings suggest that the Flow can be a useful air quality monitoring tool in air pollution areas with higher concentrations, when incorporated into other monitoring frameworks and when used in aggregate. The broader environmental implications of this work are that it is possible for individuals and groups to monitor their individual exposure to particulate matter pollution.