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This section will describe the evolving plans and events of the Logan Health Study. To
access this information, click one of these links:
CAC Meeting of March 13, 2002
Plans As Of December 21, 2001
Plans As Of October 30, 2001
Plans As Of 6/28/00
CAC Meeting of March 13, 2002
The meeting was held at the MDPH offices at 250 Washington Street in Boston MA.
MDPH was represented by Elaine Krueger, Chief, Environmental Toxicology Program,
and Greg Merriman, Logan Health Study Project Coordinator. Dr. Ronald D. Deprez
represented the Public Health Resource Group (PHRG), who have contracted with
MDPH to design the survey instrument, conduct the telephone interviews and crystallize
the interview data. Dr. Deprez was the main presenter, and the meeting focused
on development of the survey instrument and telephone interview techniques.
Nine CAC members represented the communities of Winthrop, East Boston,
Boston, South Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Revere. The attending CAC
members included physicians, people with epidemiological experience, members with
positions on their communities' Boards of Health and those holding other
official health related responsibilities. Representing Winthrop were Dr. Brian
Dumser, Barbara Flavin, and Arthur Flavin of the Winthrop AIR Environment-Health
Committee.
A great deal of information was presented about PHRG, the design of the
survey instrument, and the techniques of telephone interviewing. You can access
this information by clicking on the following links:
About the Public Health Resource Group
MDPH Logan Health Study Design
Plans As Of December 21, 2001
The following information is based on a communication
from Elaine Krueger, Chief, Environmental Toxicology Program, BEHA, MDPH, dated
December 21, 2001:
The BEHA is pleased to announce that the Public Health Resource Group (PHRG),
the company that will be conducting the Logan Health Study interviews, is
officially under contract with MDPH. MDPH and PHRG are in the process of
designing the survey instrument for the telephone interviews. PHRG has provided
to the BEHA a tentative timeline for finalizing the survey instrument by the end
of February or early March, and conducting pilot testing to ensure that the
survey can be administered efficiently and accurately. PHRG plans to test the
survey instrument in a population of randomly selected individuals around
Portland International Jetport in Portland, Maine. Interviews for the Logan
Health Study population should start several weeks after that.
While the survey instrument is being finished and tested, MDPH will also be
evaluating how best to categorize opportunities for exposure to the airport
(e.g. distance of residence to the airport, residence in relation to flight
patterns, and available monitoring data). Assessing opportunities for exposure
will help inform the sampling plan for participants in the interviews. The
results of statistical power and sample-size calculations that MDPH has
performed suggest a sample size of approximately 2700 people. It is anticipated
that a draft of the sampling plan will be completed by the end of February,
2002.
Finalizing the survey instrument and completing a draft of the sampling plan are
two major milestones that are planned over the next several weeks. For that
reason, BEHA believes that it would be more a more efficient use of the CAC's
time for MDPH to provide a written status report later in January or early
February and reconvene, as previously scheduled, on March 12, 2002 By the March
meeting, the BEHA hopes to discuss with the CAC the BEHA draft of the sampling
plan and plans for initiating and conducting the interviews, and if
representatives from PHRG are available, for CAC members to both meet them and
ask questions.
The Project Timetable has been updated to reflect
the above information. To access the Timetable, click
here.
To return to the top of this page, click here.
Plans As Of October 30, 2001
These plans were discussed at the First Community Advisory Committee
Meeting, and have not been finalized. When firmer plans are available, we'll
make them known. To find out about the CAC, click
here.
To return to the top of this page, click here.
Plans As Of 6/28/00
The following planning items were presented at the Winthrop Public Meeting
6/28/00.
- Legislative language has defined the framework of the study. (e.g. All
Communities within a five mile radius of Logan Airport.) This significantly
impacts both the scope and the approach to the Study
- Legislative language has allocated $150,000 for the Health Study. This is
a very modest sum, and will be stretched to cover just administrative
expenses. It is enough to get the study moving, to design the study, and to
identify the ultimate cost. The BEHA will request additional money during
subsequent budget cycles. Continuation of the Health Study will depend upon
future actions of the State Legislature to provide money in the budgets.
- The Mass State BEHA Study will build upon the Winthrop Health Study in a
way that addresses comprehensive Mass DPH methodologies. The results of the
BEHA study will not be subject to questions of potential biases.
- There are two alternatives to the study methodology:
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Analysis of Pediatric Asthma Data gathered from
schools. This data could be a good indicator of asthma incidence because it
would minimize the affects of behavioral factors (smoking, occupational)
affecting adults. It would not be able to identify every child with asthma,
however, because school records do not identify every child with asthma.
There are currently 242 middle schools, 48 high schools and thousands of
children in the Study area. However, data from private schools would not be
available.
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A "Symptom Prevalence Telephone
Survey". This would be a statistical sampling by household; each
telephone interview could take from 45 minutes to an hour. It is difficult
to get interviewees to participate for that long, yet, it is very important
to get complete information. This is the currently preferred method of the
future survey.
- No matter which survey methodology is chosen, the survey will be very
large. It will analyze a statistical sample representing 150,000 people and
take over two years.
- If the "Symptom Prevalence Telephone Survey" is chosen as the
methodology, communities closer to Logan will be "over sampled".
This will allow analysis within the communities and allow comparisons
between neighborhoods (like the Winthrop Health Study). Communities would
include Winthrop, South Boston, East Boston and Roxbury, and others.
Note: The Winthrop AIR EHC believes this to be extremely important.
The success of the Winthrop Health Study was because communities very close
to Logan (e.g. Court Road) could be analyzed and compared to more remote
neighborhoods (e.g. Winthrop Highlands). Not using over-sampling would
consolidate all Winthrop data into a single analysis, and prove little about
the impact of Logan Airport. Very small distances are important!
- A "Peer Review Group" of scientists outside the BEHA will be
established to ensure assessment techniques are above question, and to
provide expert backup to the BEHA.
- A Community Advisory Group (CAG) will be established to solicit input from
communities.
Note: The Winthrop AIR EHC considers this to be a key to success.
Additional information is available in the Mass
DPH Health Study Time Table. Click
here, or in the button at the top of the page.
To return to the top of this page, click here.
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