{
  "abstract": "Introduction\n\n\"Peaker\" electrical power plants operate only during periods of peak energy needs. Rapid fossil-fuel combustion ramp-up produces high emissions, and peaker plants are significant sources of CO₂ and particulate air pollution. We evaluated whether residents living near a gas-fired peaker plant experienced increased pollution-associated emergency department/urgent care (ED/UC) visits associated with air pollution related to the \"on\" phases of peaker operation.Methods\n\nED/UC visits for patients in a primary care practice serving the neighborhoods surrounding a peaker plant in Massachusetts were analyzed for 5 years (2017-2021) for visit diagnoses including respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, headache, and pregnancy complications. Daily exposure to peaker-related emissions using HyADS, an air-parcel trajectory model-derived unitless measure of exposure magnitude, was assigned by the zip code of each patient's residential address. A case-crossover design evaluated the association between daily peaker exposure and cause-specific ED/UC visits, adjusting for heat index, PM2.5 from other sources, holidays, and seasonality.Results\n\nAverage daily peaker plant exposure was 1.4 (unitless); large variability reflected plant intermittency (SD=16). Background PM2.5 exposure was 8.5 μg/m³ (SD=6.4). Analyses included 2,310 ED/UC visits for assessed diagnoses among patients residing ≤ 30 km from the plant. Main analyses showed a positive association between short-term peaker emissions and increased risk of ED/UC visits for respiratory conditions (OR 1.044; 95 % CI 1.001-1.090). In addition, we found respiratory disease-related visits were elevated among the non-white group (OR 1.347; 95 % CI 1.034-1.755). There was no association noted between peaker emissions and visits for cardiovascular, headache, or pregnancy diagnoses.Conclusion\n\nThe peaker plant worsened air quality when turned on. Although we did not observe consistent associations across all assessed ED/UC visit categories, there was a positive same-day association between modeled peaker-plant exposure and respiratory-related visits. Replacing combustion-driven peaker plants with renewable energy in densely populated neighborhoods could yield measurable global and local air quality-related health benefits.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA.",
    "Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Mass General Brigham, USA.",
    "Departments of Epidemiology and Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Washington School of Public Health, USA.",
    "Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, George Mason University, USA.",
    "Department of Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA.",
    "Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Youn Soo Jung"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Adrienne Allen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Joan Casey"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Lucas Henneman"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Xiaorong Shan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Hugh Shirley"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Kari Nadeau"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Ann-Christine Duhaime"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dd8db6efaw4vy.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.joclim.2026.100762",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13682058",
  "id": "dd8db6efaw4vy",
  "issns": [
    "2667-2782"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42903668",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2307|Air Quality and Health Impacts"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221550361",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13682058?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13682058",
  "pmid": "42903668",
  "published": "2026-10-12",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dd8db6efaw4vy.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:53Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42903668",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42903668"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2307|Air Quality and Health Impacts",
      "subfield": "pharmacology-toxicology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Individual-level health effects of living near a gas-fired \"Peaker\" power plant.",
  "title_text": "Individual-level health effects of living near a gas-fired \"Peaker\" power plant.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:53Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dd8db6efaw4vy",
  "venue": "The journal of climate change and health",
  "versions": []
}