Rationale: Over the past year, the American Thoracic Society (ATS), led by its Environmental Health Policy Committee, has reviewed the most current air quality scientific evidence and has revised their recommendations to 8 μg/m³ and 25 μg/m³ for long- and short-term fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and reaffirmed the recommendation of 60 ppb for ozone to protect the American public from the known adverse health effects of air pollution. The current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, in contrast, expose the American public to pollution levels that are known to result in significant morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: To provide county-level estimates of annual air pollution-related health outcomes across the United States using the most recent federal air quality data, and to support the ATS’s recent update to the long-term PM_2.5recommended standard. This study is presented as part of the annual ATS/Marron Institute “Health of the Air” report.

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