Study finds correlation between air pollution & school absences

New research from the University of Utah has established a direct correlation between air pollution and school absences. And while that might seem intuitive, they found that was true, even at levels below the threshold for green air quality, considered healthy by the EPA. Daniel Mendozza, formerly on UPHEs board, was the lead author of the study. Read more here.

“Any pollution is bad,” Mendoza said. “And these lower levels of pollution, which are still harmful to our health, have been understudied. So what that really leads us to think is that even low levels of poor air quality can, in a cumulative manner lead to negative health outcomes — in this case increased school absences. Even on green air quality days, when the pollution was just slightly elevated, if we had several of those days, then kids would still be absent.”

Read coverage of this research in this Salt Lake Tribune article https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2020/10/10/research-shows-school/