Jennifer StowellBoston University | BU · Department of Environmental Health
Jennifer Stowell
PhD MPH
About
35
Publications
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
Education
May 2015 - October 2019
August 2013 - May 2015
August 2004 - May 2008
Publications
Publications (35)
Overwhelming evidence has shown that, from the Industrial Revolution to the present, human activities influence ground-level ozone (O3) concentrations. Past studies demonstrate links between O3 exposure and health. However, knowledge gaps remain in our understanding concerning the impacts of climate change mitigation policies on O3 concentrations a...
Background:
In 2012, Colorado experienced one of its worst wildfire seasons of the past decade. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship of local PM2.5 levels, modeled using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry, with emergency department visits and acute hospitalizations for respiratory and cardiovascular out...
Background
Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading infectious cause of birth defects in the United States. To better understand factors that may influence CMV transmission risk, we compared viral and immunological factors in healthy children and their mothers.
Methods
We screened for CMV IgG antibodies in a convenience sample of 161 childr...
Introduction:Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) transmission can occur when women acquire CMV while pregnant. Infection control guidelines may reduce risk for transmission.Methods:We studied duration of CMV survival after placement on hands, transfer from hands to surfaces, and effectiveness of cleansing with water, regular and antibacterial soap, sa...
Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) affects ∼1 of 150 births and is a leading cause of hearing loss and intellectual disability.
It has been suggested that transmission may occur via contaminated surfaces. CMV AD169 in filtered human saliva, applied to
environmental surfaces, was recovered at various time points. Samples were evaluated by culture and...
Ambient air quality across the southeastern US has improved substantially in recent decades. However, emissions from prescribed burn remain high, which may pose a substantial health threat. We employed a multistage modeling framework to estimate year-round, long-term effects of prescribed burn on air quality and premature deaths. The framework inte...
Smoke from wildfires poses a substantial threat to health in communities near and far. To mitigate the extent and potential damage of wildfires, prescribed burning techniques are commonly employed as land management tools; however, they introduce their own smoke-related risks. This study investigates the impact of prescribed fires on daily average...
Background
Over 120 million people in the USA live in areas with unsafe ozone (O3) levels. Studies among adults have linked exposure to worse lung function and higher risk of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, few studies have examined the effects of O3 in children, and existing studies are limited in terms of their g...
In 2023 human populations experienced multiple record‐breaking climate events, with widespread impacts on human health and well‐being. These events include extreme heat domes, drought, severe storms, flooding, and wildfires. Due to inherent lags in the climate system, we can expect such extremes to continue for multiple decades after reaching net z...
Global climate change has sparked efforts to adapt to increasing temperatures, especially in urban areas that experience increased day and nighttime temperatures due to the urban heat island effect. The addition of greenspace has been suggested as a possible means for urban centers to respond to increasing urban temperatures. Thus, it is important...
High ambient temperatures have become more likely due to climate change and are linked to higher rates of heat-related illness, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, mental health disorders, and other diseases. To date, far fewer studies have examined the effects of high temperatures on children versus adults, and studies including children have...
The 2022 report of the Lancet Countdown is published as the world confronts profound and concurrent systemic shocks. Countries and health systems continue to contend with the health, social, and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, while Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a persistent fossil fuel overdependence has pushed the world into global...
Increases in wildfire activity across the Western US pose a significant public health threat. While there is evidence that wildfire smoke is detrimental for respiratory health, the impacts on cardiovascular health remain unclear. This study evaluates the association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke and unscheduled cardior...
Climate change and human activities have drastically altered the natural wildfire balance in the Western US and increased population health risks due to exposure to pollutants from fire smoke. Using dynamically downscaled climate model projections, we estimated additional asthma emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to exposure to smoke fi...
Plain Language Summary
From the heated debates over whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is primarily spread by airborne droplets to the abrupt changes in human behavior such as less driving and factory emissions that have caused changes to the Earth, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of the scientific field called GeoHealth. G...
Predicting long-term spatiotemporal characteristics of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is important in China to understand historical levels of PM2.5, to support health effects research of both long-term and short-term exposures to PM2.5, and to evaluate the efficacy of air pollution control policies. Satellite-retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD)...
Coke oven emissions (COEs), usually composed of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and so on, may alter the relative telomere length of exposed workers and have been linked with adverse health events. However, the relevant biological exposure limits of COEs exposure has not been evaluated from telomere damage. The purpose of this study is to e...
Early studies of weather, seasonality, and environmental influences on COVID-19 have yielded inconsistent and confusing results. To provide policy-makers and the public with meaningful and actionable environmentally-informed COVID-19 risk estimates, the research community must meet robust methodological and communication standards. When COVID-19 be...
Background: Studies of PM 2.5 health effects are influenced by the spatiotemporal coverage and accuracy of exposure estimates. The use of satellite remote sensing data such as aerosol optical depth (AOD) in PM 2.5 exposure modeling has increased recently in the US and elsewhere in the world. However, few studies have addressed this issue in souther...
Regulatory monitoring networks are often too sparse to support community-scale PM2.5 exposure assessment while emerging low-cost sensors have the potential to fill in the gaps. To date, limited studies, if any, have been conducted to utilize low-cost sensor measurements to improve PM2.5 prediction with high spatiotemporal resolutions based on stati...
Background:
Substantial increases in wildfire activity have been recorded in recent decades. Wildfires influence the chemical composition and concentration of particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5). However, relatively few epidemiologic studies focus on the health impacts of wildfire smoke PM2.5 compared with the number of stud...
Background: We assessed the association of groundwater chemicals with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Methods: Blood pressure data for ≥35-year-olds were from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey in 2011. Groundwater chemicals in 3534 well water samples from Bangladesh were measured by the British Geologica...
Background:
Caring for young children is a known risk factor for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection mainly through exposure to their saliva and urine. In a previous study, 36 CMV-seropositive children 2 mo. to 4 years old were categorized as CMV shedders (n = 23) or non-shedders (n = 13) based on detection of CMV DNA in their saliva and urine. The cu...
Background:
An estimated 1 in 150 infants is born each year with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV); nearly 1 in 750 suffers permanent disabilities. Congenital CMV is the result of a pregnant woman becoming infected with CMV. Educating pregnant women about CMV is currently the best approach to prevention. Limited research is available on how to effe...
Background
To better understand potential transmission risks from contact with the body fluids of children, we monitored the presence and amount of CMV shedding over time in healthy CMV-seropositive children.
Methods
Through screening we identified 36 children from the Atlanta, Georgia area who were CMV-seropositive, including 23 who were shedding...
Background
Young, healthy children shedding cytomegalovirus (CMV) in urine and saliva appear to be the leading source of CMV in primary infection of pregnant women.
Findings
We screened 48 children 6 months – 5 years old for CMV IgG and measured levels of CMV IgG, IgM and IgG avidity antibodies, frequency of CMV shedding, and viral loads in blood,...
Despite the promise of future treatments and vaccines for CMV infection, there is still a need for clinicians to educate parents about congenital CMV so that they will be better equipped to participate in decisions regarding diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.