Dr. Anneclaire De Roos, associate professor in Drexel University School of Public Health, department of environmental and occupational health, recently published two new articles. She is the first author of an article titled “Proximity to Traffic, Ambient Air Pollution, and Community Noise in Relation to Incident Rheumatoid Arthritis”, published in Environmental Health Perspectives. This article discusses a study of proximity to traffic, ambient air pollution, and community noise in relation to rheumatoid arthritis in the Vancouver and Victoria regions of British Columbia, Canada. This study confirmed a previously observed association of rheumatoid arthritis risk with proximity to traffic, though the results suggested that neither noise levels nor traffic-related air pollutants are responsible for this relationship. Co-authors for this article were Dr. Mieke Koehoorn, Ms. Lillian Tamburic, Dr. Hugh W. Davies, and Dr. Michael Brauer, all from the University of British Columbia.

Dr. De Roos also coauthored an article titled “Differential Geographical Risk of Initial Pseudomonas aeruginosa Acquisition in Young US Children With Cystic Fibrosis”, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. This article discusses a retrospective study to examine whether state of residence affected risk of P. aeruginosa acquisition among U.S. children under 6 years of age with cystic fibrosis (Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the sentinel respiratory pathogen in cystic fibrosis patients). The findings from this study that risk for P. aeruginosaacquisition displayed spatial dependence, suggests that regional factors, such as climate, may play an important role in P. aeruginosa acquisition. The first author for this article was Dr. Kevin Psoter from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and co-authors were Dr. Margaret Rosenfeld from Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Drs. Jonathan Mayer and Jon Wakefield from the University of Washington.