San Diego State University, School of Public Health, San Diego, CA, USA.
J Air Waste Manag Assoc. 2021 Dec;71(12):1585-1594. doi: 10.1080/10962247.2021.1994053. Epub 2021 Nov 9.
Air pollution is one of the major risk factors contributing to adverse public health outcomes worldwide. Fine particulate matter (PM) has been repeatedly associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks. Because PM is unequally distributed with elevated concentrations near high-traffic and industrial zones, PM is an environmental justice issue of major public health concern. In this study, we reviewed the relationship between PM, emergency visits due to heart attacks, and environmental justice in San Diego County using data from CalEnviroScreen 3.0. Our results indicate that PM, diesel PM emissions, and emergency visits due to heart attacks are weakly, but positively correlated (r = 0.3, R < 0.1). Areas classified as environmental justice communities, communities comprised more dominantly of nonwhite populations, and communities closer to the San Diego-Tijuana border are exposed disproportionately to air pollution in San Diego County. Overall, this work demonstrates that there is an association between elevated local PM concentrations in San Diego County communities with emergency hospital visits due to heart attacks, and that these associations are an environmental justice issue disproportionally affecting disadvantaged communities. Particulate matter is an adverse contributor to overall health throughout the lifespan, contributing to diseases such as asthma, hypertension, stroke, and increased risk of cardiovascular events. Here, we assess the relationship between particulate matter and heart attacks in San Diego County using CalEnviroScreen3.0. Using these tools, we also examine correlations between this relationship and different sociodemographic indicators such as age, race, income, and proximity to the high-traffic U.S.-Mexico border. Overall, we show that specific communities around San Diego are more highly exposed to particulate matter, and that these relationships may be disproportionately contributing to heart attacks in disadvantaged communities.
空气污染是导致全球不良公共健康后果的主要危险因素之一。细颗粒物（PM）已被反复证明与心血管事件风险增加有关，包括心脏病发作。由于 PM 在交通繁忙和工业区附近分布不均，浓度较高，因此 PM 是一个主要的环境公正问题，引起了公众健康的极大关注。在这项研究中，我们使用 CalEnviroScreen 3.0 的数据，审查了圣地亚哥县 PM、因心脏病发作而急诊就诊与环境公正之间的关系。我们的结果表明，PM、柴油 PM 排放物和因心脏病发作而急诊就诊之间存在微弱但呈正相关（r = 0.3，R < 0.1）。被归类为环境公正社区的区域、更多地由非白人群体组成的社区以及靠近圣地亚哥-蒂华纳边境的社区，不成比例地暴露于圣地亚哥县的空气污染之中。总的来说，这项工作表明，圣地亚哥县社区中局部 PM 浓度升高与因心脏病发作而急诊就诊之间存在关联，并且这些关联是一个不成比例地影响弱势社区的环境公正问题。颗粒物在整个生命周期中都是对整体健康的不利因素，会导致哮喘、高血压、中风和心血管事件风险增加等疾病。在这里，我们使用 CalEnviroScreen3.0 评估圣地亚哥县颗粒物与心脏病发作之间的关系。使用这些工具，我们还检查了这种关系与年龄、种族、收入和与交通繁忙的美墨边境的接近程度等不同社会人口学指标之间的相关性。总的来说，我们表明圣地亚哥周围的特定社区受到更多的颗粒物暴露，这些关系可能不成比例地导致弱势社区心脏病发作。
