Residential health near major construction projects: unexplored hazards

Few studies have been made of the impact of major construction on the health of nearby residents. We conducted a feasibility study in one zip code (02111; Chinatown, Boston, MA, USA) in which four large buildings (20-30 stories) were built between 1999 and 2004 and adjacent to which a major highway construction project was in progress. Information about major construction project start and end dates were obtained from a variety of sources. Three sets of health data--emergency department and mortality-were obtained from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the years of 1998 - 2004. We used ICD-9 and ICD-10 disease codes to aggregate selected pulmonary and cardiac-related categories that could reasonably be expected to be aggravated by air pollution released from construction sites, including diesel and dust, and noise and vibration. We propose that larger-scale studies are possible and needed using approaches similar to ours.