EPHT Air Quality Indicators: Daily PM_2.5 and Ozone levels; Annual PM_2.5level.

To see explanations, tables, graphs and maps for each measure, click on the measure name below.

PM_2.5  – Percentage of days and number of person days with PM_2.5 levels over National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS); Annual average PM_2.5 concentration; Percentage of population in counties meeting the NAAQS and percentage of population in counties without PM_2.5 monitors.     

 

Ozone – Annual number of days and person-days with maximum 8-hr average ozone concentration over National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

Or, click here to see the full EPHT report on Air Quality (pdf). 

Information about Indicators: Indicators provide information about a population’s health status with respect to environmental factors when clear measurable links are not available. As part of the nationwide EPHT network implementation, work groups developed indicators and measures. Guidelines were established for the collection of data and the calculation of measures in a nationally-consistent way (called Nationally Consistent Data and Measures, or NCDMs).

A few air quality indicators were prioritized for health tracking programs to compute and disseminate in a way that would be meaningful to stakeholders. EPHT tracks ozone and PM_2.5 because air monitoring data for these contaminants are widely available; high levels of these contaminants are believed to be the main cause of poor air quality in much of the country; and  these pollutants have been strongly linked with respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. EPHT is interested in exploring other pollutants and variables related to air pollution and health in the future.

For more information about environmental health indicators from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/indicators/introduction.htm

Time period: Calculation of these measures includes data collected between 1997 and 2007. 

Data sources: Data used in the calculation of these indicators were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality System.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Air Quality System:

http://www.epa.gov/air/data/aqsdb.html

U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder:

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en.