Air Pollution and Individual and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Adar SD ; Auchincloss AH ; Diez-Roux AV ; Hajat A ; Kaufman JD ; Lovasi GS ; O'Neill MS ; Sheppard L
• Description:
  Background: Although research has shown that low socioeconomic status (SES) and minority communities have higher exposure to air pollution, few studies have simultaneously investigated the associations of individual and neighborhood SES with pollutants across multiple sites. Objectives: We characterized the distribution of ambient air pollution by both individual and neighborhood SES using spatial regression methods. Methods: The study population comprised 6,140 participants from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Year 2000 annual average ambient PM2.5 and NOx concentrations were calculated for each study participant's home address at baseline examination. We investigated individual and neighborhood (2000 U.S. Census tract level) SES measures corresponding to the domains of income, wealth, education, and occupation. We used a spatial intrinsic conditional autoregressive model for multivariable analysis and examined pooled and metropolitan area-specific models. Results: A 1-unit increase in the z-score for family income was associated with 0.03-ug/m3 lower PM2.5 (95% CI: -0.05, -0.01) and 0.93% lower NOx (95% CI: -1.33, -0.53) after adjustment for covariates. A 1-SD-unit increase in the neighborhood's percentage of persons with at least a high school degree was associated with 0.47-ug/m3 lower mean PM2.5 (95% CI: -0.55, -0.40) and 9.61% lower NOx (95% CI: -10.85, -8.37). Metropolitan area-specific results exhibited considerable heterogeneity. For example, in New York, high-SES neighborhoods were associated with higher concentrations of pollution. Conclusions: We found statistically significant associations of SES measures with predicted air pollutant concentrations, demonstrating the importance of accounting for neighborhood- and individual-level SES in air pollution health effects research. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Cohort Studies Epidemiology Healthcare Disparities Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Air Pollution Cohort Studies Health Disparities Health Effects Particulates Socioeconomics
• ISSN:
  0091-6765
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; New York ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Pennsylvania ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  121
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055110
• Citation:
  Environ Health Perspect 2013 Nov-Dec; 121(11-12):1325-1333
• Contact Point Address:
  A. Hajat, University of Washington, School of Public Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105 USA
• Email:
  anjumh@uw.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Health Perspectives
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f36b6790ffce56b927c5cef5113dde3da3655829dc837a0de6762b620716ef61d04fea80b260e090bcd14fb428eddbbfd4d1b1d7e9388cebdc92533c2d0a3f7d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/217479/cdc_217479_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.59 MB ]