Dr. Wuyue Yu, postdoctoral fellow at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, and Professor George D. Thurston, ScD of Medicine and Population Health at the same university, conducted a study entitled, An interrupted time series analysis of the cardiovascular health benefits of a coal coking operation closure*. In this work, they applied inpatient discharge data from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) and emergency department data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The study evaluated the change in the incidence of adverse health outcomes from the period three years prior, to the period three years after, the January 2016 closure of the Shenango, Inc. coal coke plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The analysis tested for a reduction in air pollution exposure as a result of the coke plant closure and a corresponding decrease in adverse health conditions, as determined by immediate and longer-term trend changes in the incidence of hospitalizations for cardiovascular diseases, ischemic heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases and emergency department visits for cardiovascular versus traumatic injury (a control category).
For the study, the researchers compared hospitalization trends at three sites: 1) the vicinity of the closed Shenango coke plant in Pittsburgh (exposure site), 2) a still-operating coke plant area in Clairton, Pennsylvania (positive control site), and 3) an area without a coke plant in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (negative control site).
Drs. Yu and Thurston explained, “We found a significant immediate and sustained reduction of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and coal-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5) near the exposure site after the Shenango coke plant closure. Short and longer-term post-closure reductions were observed in the total number of hospitalizations for cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and cerebrovascular diseases, as compared to pre-closure. Similar declines were not observed at the other two control site locations. We found both an immediate drop and a longer-term decline in the total number of cardiovascular emergency department visits, while the incidence of traumatic injury emergency department visits (control category) was not similarly reduced following the closure.”
Drs. Yu and Thurston shared, “The PHC4 data was well-organized and timely and met the spatiotemporal resolution needs of the study.” They added that, “the process of purchasing data from PHC4 was smooth and quick.” Results of the study were published in the journal Environmental Research: Health in July 2023*. This policy impactful article has garnered press attention around the world, and is listed in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric**.
* Yu W, Thurston GD. An interrupted time series analysis of the cardiovascular benefits of a coal coking operation closure. 2023 Environ. Res.: Health 1 045002
** https://iop.altmetric.com/details/152255690
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