Estimating Pollutant Exposures from Coal Fired Power Plants in a Rural Region

Introduction A critical issue in epidemiological studies of ambient air pollution is the measurement of pollutant exposure in the study population. Accurate characterization of air quality is necessary in any study relating exposure to health effects, and is essential in attempting to quantify risk estimates for specific exposure concentrations. Despite the importance of accurate air quality data, most epidemiological investigations have used relatively crude estimates of pollutant exposure. 1 Results from such investigations may be only qualitative at best. Early studies of air pollution health effects were limited by a lack of air pollution monitoring sites, and thus, exposures were often based on surrogate measures such as tons of coal consumed. 2 With the introduction of reliable and reasonably accurate measurements of