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Analyzing the relation between PM2.5 Concentrations and Asthma Incidents in California Cities using ArcGIS

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Suvam S Patel

Background

Methods

PM2.5 Concentration, Asthma Incidents, and Popultion Density Maps

  • Collected data for emission by air pollutant, total population for California cities, and total Asthma incidents for each city. California Air Resources Board, CalEnviroScreen 3.0
  • Organized data by summarizing the total PM2.5 Concentration, Population, and Asthma Incidents for each city.
  • Used Table Join to join the NAME fields for each dataset.
  • Created a Graduated Symbols Map by normalizing each Field Value (e.g., Sum_PM2.5, Sum_Asthma, Sum_Pop) by the area of the city
  • Used the IDW (Spatial Analyst) Tool to interpolate a raster surface from point data for each condition.
  • Used the Extract by Mask tool to fit entire raster surface to the CA Counties shapefile.
  • Created Scatterplots for “PM2.5 vs. Population Density” and “PM2.5 vs. Asthma Incidents” to establish a correlation.

Environmental factors play a huge role on Public Health. GHG emissions contain a lot of carcinogenic elements which are harmful to human heath. One of these carcinogens is known as PM2.5, a particulate matter that is so small which can enter the blood vessels easily and cause harm to the lungs. Much of PM2.5 is known to be generated from auto-emissions. Exposure to PM2.5 can give rise to ailments such as asthma and other cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between PM2.5 emission and asthma incidents in CA cities. The map will show total PM2.5 emission and Asthma Incidents in CA cities. A population density map will show if a dense population is responsible for heavy PM2.5 emission rate. The results will analyze the correlation between PM2.5 vs. Population and PM2.5 vs. Asthma in order to assess the health risks associated with PM2.5 emissions.

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Reference

Maps. All the maps above represent a raster surface for each condition Map 1) Represents the raster surface for PM2.5 Concentration for each California City Map 2) Represents the raster surface for Asthma Incidents that have occurred for each California City. Map 3) Represents the raster surface for Population Density for each California County..

Observations: Visually, the raster maps do seem to depict a correlation as the highest value for each conditions are consistently occurring in the same locality (e.g., LA County, San Diego County, Kern County, etc.)

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Results

  • The maps show a correlation since the densities for each condition consistently occur through the same area.
  • The Scatterplots for each condition also verify a positive correlation between conditions PM2.5 vs. Asthma and PM2.5 vs. Population. Such positive correlations verify a cause and effect relationship. Where there is high population density, there is high PM2.5 emissions, thus there are a high number of Asthma incidents in such a city.
  • Although correlation does not imply causation, in such a case there is causation by understanding the properties of PM2.5. PM2.5 is a pollutant emitted by gas-powered vehicles and it is also known for causing various cardiovascular disease such as asthma.

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  1. California Air Resources Board, https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/ei/tools/pollution_map/#dataTab
  2. CalEnviroScreen 3.0,

https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/report/calenviroscreen-30

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