Coal-fired power plants release substantial air pollution, which included over 60% of US sulfur dioxide emissions in 2014. Such air pollution may exacerbate asthma, but direct studies of the health impacts linked to power plant air pollution are rare. Here we take advantage of a natural experiment in Louisville, Kentucky, where one coal-fired power plant was retired and converted to natural gas, and three others installed SO₂ emission control systems between 2013 and 2016. Dispersion modelling indicated that exposure to SO₂ emissions from these power plants decreased after the energy transitions. We used several analysis strategies, which include difference-in-differences, first-difference and interrupted time-series modelling to show that the emissions control installations and plant retirements are associated with a reduced asthma disease burden related to hospitalizations and emergency room visits at the ZIP-code level, and to individual-level medication use as measured by digital medication sensors.

燃煤电厂排放大量空气污染物，其中包括 2014 年美国二氧化硫排放量的 60% 以上。此类空气污染可能会加剧哮喘，但对与电厂空气污染相关的健康影响的直接研究很少。在此，我们利用肯塔基州路易斯维尔的一项自然实验，其中一座燃煤电厂退役并改用天然气，另外三座电厂在 2013 年至 2016 年间安装了 SO ₂排放控制系统。扩散模型表明，接触 SO ₂能源转型后，这些发电厂的排放量有所减少。我们使用了多种分析策略，包括双重差分、一阶差分和间断时间序列模型，以表明排放控制装置和工厂退役与减少与住院和急诊室就诊相关的哮喘疾病负担有关。邮政编码级别，以及通过数字药物传感器测量的个人级别的药物使用情况。