1

Subject: FW: for NOX docket: FW: question re: 2011 EHP Spira-Cohen paper

Attachments: thesis results for NO2 and SO2.docx

From: Ariel Spira-Cohen [mailto:arielsc@gmail.com] 

Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 9:54 PM 

To: Patel, Molini 

Cc: George D. Thurston, Sc.D. 

Subject: Re: question re: 2011 EHP Spira-Cohen paper 

Please see the attached. Let me know if you need more! 

Ariel 

............................................................................................. 

On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 2:59 PM, Patel, Molini <Patel.Molini@epa.gov> wrote: 

Thanks George and Ariel! My email to you this morning got stuck in my outbox. If you could point me to the 

table in your dissertation, that would be great! And providing the NO2 and SO2 results is an excellent 

suggestion! We may need them shortly. 

Molini M. Patel, PhD, MPH 

Epidemiologist 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

National Center for Environmental Assessment 

Mailcode: B243-01 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 

Phone: 919.541.1492, Fax: 919.541.1818, Email: patel.molini@epa.gov

..........................................................................................................

-----Original Message----- 

From: George D. Thurston, Sc.D. [mailto:george.thurston@nyu.edu] 

Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2013 6:01 PM 

To: Patel, Molini 

Cc: Ariel Spira-Cohen 

Subject: Re: question re: 2011 EHP Spira-Cohen paper 

Molini, 

 Thanks for your interest in including our study. The person who would have this information is the first 

author, Ariel Spira-Cohen. 

I have CC'd her on this email, so she can provide you with those values for NO2. 

 One suggestion: there were also significant results for SO2, which you may need in the near future, so Ariel 

should also send you the same info for SO2 at the same time. Make sense? 

George 

Dr. George D. Thurston 

Professor 

NYU School of Medicine 

Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine 
2

57 Old Forge Rd. 

Tuxedo, NY 10987-5007 USA 

PH: 845-731-3564

Faculty Web Page: http://www.med.nyu.edu/research/gdt1.html

.................................................................................................... 

Hi Dr. Thurston, 

We're moving closer to the release of the first draft NOx ISA and hope you can provide us with some additional 

information from your 2011 EHP paper, "Personal Exposures to Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Acute 

Respiratory Health among Bronx Schoolchildren with Asthma." 

Could you provide the quantitative data (RR and 95% CI) for results presented in Figure 1, specifically the 

school-site NO2 results for cough, wheeze, shortness of breath, and total respiratory symptoms for lag 0, 1, and 

2-day average. 

Thanks! Molini 

> 

Molini M. Patel, PhD, MPH 

Epidemiologist 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

National Center for Environmental Assessment 

Mailcode: B243-01 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 

Phone: 919.541.1492, Fax: 919.541.1818, Email: patel.molini@epa.gov
EHP article Figure 1:

Cough Short Breath Wheeze Total Symptoms

Same day NO2 1.15 (0.87, 1.51) 1.11 (0.73, 1.68) 1.20 (0.75, 1.9) 1.10 (0.84, 1.45)

Lag 1 day NO2 1.02 (0.77, 1.35) 0.74 (0.48, 1.14) 0.79 (0.5, 1.27) 0.92 (0.7, 1.21)

2day avg NO2 1.18 (0.79, 1.74) 0.89 (0.5, 1.59) 1.02 (0.54, 1.94) 1.05 (0.71, 1.55)

SO2 results: The SO2 analysis was a little different than the analysis I published in EHP and was part of a 

sensitivity analysis. I used peak morning concentrations for SO2 and NO2 from the monitor at the school 

site. (The results are described on pages 97-98 of my thesis and Tables E.3 and E.4)

Cough Short Breath Wheeze

Morning max SO2 1.42 (1.15, 1.76) 1.32 (0.93, 1.88) 1.56 (1.11, 2.19)

Morning max NO2 1.29 (1.03, 1.61) 1.10 (0.78, 1.56) 1.25 (0.87, 1.8)

Lung Function results with SO2 (using afternoon lung function metrics with morning max 

concentrations) were not statistically significant. However, lung function metrics showed a 

predominantly negative relationship. FEV/FVC fraction had very small coefficient but p value was = .05. 

Do you want these numbers as well? They are shown in Table E.3 of my thesis.