The NM/CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Project launched this Web site to enable the public and researchers to learn about relationships between environmental exposures and their associated health effects. The NM EPHT Project Web site summarizes air quality and water quality data as well as environmental health outcomes such as asthma, myocardial infarction, birth defects, reproductive outcomes, thyroid cancer, and leukemia. It includes studies on the linkage of ozone in air with asthma, and arsenic in drinking water with bladder cancer. It also provides warning systems based on real-time satellite data for wildfires, dust, heat waves, and other weather events. The interactive NM Tracking Application Web site allows data queries for and visualization of data that are summarized on the Project site. Link to the NM Tracking Data Query Application (external site opens in a new window or tab): https://epht-imp.unm.edu/cgi-bin/nm_epht/epht_home.py.

New Mexico Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (NM EPHT; also called ‘Tracking’) activities focus on:

• Enhancing, geocoding, and developing core data sets.
• Exploring data linkages of environmental exposure and health outcome data.
• Epidemiologic and statistical analyses.
• Developing data dissemination capabilities and tools.
• Submitting the nationally consistent data and measures (NCDMs) and metadata for tracking on the National and NM EPHT Networks.
• Implementing Web-based and role-based public and secure portals, and developing messages for their incorporation into the portals.

Data analyses aided in environmental health surveillance in New Mexico by improving our ability to define exposures and related disease occurrences and to respond to community concerns. The information collected for NM EPHT has been used to make legislative recommendations and public health interventions to reduce environmental exposures and potentially related disease.

Asthma

NM EPHT responded to a legislative request to look at air quality issues in northwest NM and their potential health effects. The northwest part of New Mexico has numerous coal-fired power plants and oil and gas refineries that combine to create air quality exposures to ozone, particulates, metals, and toxic organics. We were able to respond based on our studies conducted for Tracking that found an association between ozone levels and emergency department visits for asthma. We continue to investigate the relationships between these air quality issues and other respiratory health effects and cardiovascular effects. All these data had been obtained and reviewed as part of Tracking and were summarized in a report for the State Legislature.

Cancer

Los Alamos County in-depth, sub-county-level epidemiologic investigations of anecdotically-reported excess thyroid cancer incidence: In several instances, statistically elevated incidence rates of cancer have been observed, and in one case involving thyroid cancer in Los Alamos County, additional follow-up studies were initiated using capacity developed by the NM EPHT Network. The thyroid cancer follow-up study revealed that the more than three-fold excess of thyroid cancer observed among Los Alamos County residents between 2001 and 2005 was localized entirely to females, and more specifically, to reproductive-age females aged 20 to 49 years. In response to community concerns, further studies at the Census tract level are now underway to more closely examine the excess incidence pattern in terms of its uniqueness and possible underlying factors.

Biomonitoring

Biomonitoring Legislative Appropriations: Findings from Tracking supported a request for state biomonitoring funds to be included in the next legislature session. New Mexico previously held a CDC biomonitoring grant and as a result, we now have greater biomonitoring capacity and have identified many important issues that need further addressing, including arsenic and uranium levels in urine that are associated with health effects. Many of these exposures are from drinking water.

NASA Satellite Data

We developed and implemented the infrastructure to include daily, updated National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite images on our State Network to show wildfires and their smoke plumes, dust plumes, and weather events. NM EPHT partnered with NASA on three projects to include satellite data in our Program: a dust re-suspension model developed to estimate ground-level dust concentrations and associated health effects, including asthma and myocardial infarction (MI); a NASA model (still to be developed) to estimate ground-level ozone concentrations statewide since data have only been collected for Albuquerque so far; and a feasibility study for developing and implementing a pollen model based on satellite vegetation indices (calculations that indicate vegetation greenness).

Climate Change

NM EPHT supported the developing Climate Change Workgroup, including evaluation of satellite data for land surface temperatures and thermal reflectance and potential heat-related health outcomes.

Drinking Water Quality

NM EPHT implemented a GIS-based methodology to characterize NM Census tracts with respect to public drinking water supply systems, service populations proportionate to overall Census tract populations, and population-weighted drinking water arsenic levels. [GIS – Geographic Information System]

Learn more about specific analytical methods used in the New Mexico EPHT Program through the links below.

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New Mexico Tracking Methods

Linking Health and Environmental Data

GeocodingGeocoding is a Geographic Information System (GIS) process for converting street addresses into spatial data that can be displayed as features on a map. To maintain confidentiality, the spatial EPHT data that result from geocoding are aggregated to a geographic unit that is large enough to prevent individual identification. For example, geocoded street addresses in a city could be aggregated to represent the entire city.

Age Adjustment

Time Series Data

Satellite DataThe NM EPHT Program supplements analysis with satellite data and imagery from a few satellite platforms, notably, land products from NASA's MODIS sensor.

Metadata Creation ToolThe EPHT Metadata Creation Tool (MCT) generates customized, FGDC-compliant metadata files from information entered into a Web form.