Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, United States.
Front Public Health. 2024 Apr 23;12:1366179. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1366179. eCollection 2024.
A growing number of inexpensive, publicly available, validated air quality monitors are currently generating granular and longitudinal data on air quality. The expansion of interconnected networks of these monitors providing open access to longitudinal data represents a valuable data source for health researchers, citizen scientists, and community members; however, the distribution of these data collection systems will determine the groups that will benefit from them. Expansion of these and other exposure measurement networks represents a unique opportunity to address persistent inequities across racial, ethnic, and class lines, if the distribution of these devices is equitable. We present a lean template for local implementation, centered on groups known to experience excess burden of pulmonary disease, leveraging five resources, (a) publicly available, inexpensive air quality monitors connected via Wi-Fi to a centralized system, (b) discharge data from a state hospital repository (c) the U.S. Census, (d) monitoring locations generously donated by community organizations and (e) NIH grant funds. We describe our novel approach to targeting air-quality mediated pulmonary health disparities, review logistical and analytic challenges encountered, and present preliminary data that aligns with a growing body of research: in a high-burden zip code in Durham North Carolina, the census tract with the highest proportions of African Americans experienced worse air quality than a majority European-American census tract in the same zip code. These results, while not appropriate for use in causal inference, demonstrate the potential of equitably distributed, interconnected air quality sensors.
越来越多的廉价、公共、经过验证的空气质量监测器目前正在生成关于空气质量的详细和纵向数据。这些监测器的互联网络的扩展，为健康研究人员、公民科学家和社区成员提供了开放获取纵向数据的宝贵数据源；然而，这些数据收集系统的分布将决定受益于它们的群体。如果这些设备的分布是公平的，那么这些和其他暴露测量网络的扩展代表了一个解决种族、族裔和阶层之间持续不平等问题的独特机会。我们提出了一个精简的本地实施模板，以已知患有肺病负担过重的群体为中心，利用以下五种资源：（a）通过 Wi-Fi 连接到集中系统的公共、廉价空气质量监测器，（b）州立医院存储库中的出院数据，（c）美国人口普查，（d）社区组织慷慨捐赠的监测地点，以及（e）NIH 赠款资金。我们描述了我们针对空气质量介导的肺部健康差异的新方法，回顾了遇到的后勤和分析挑战，并展示了与越来越多的研究一致的初步数据：在北卡罗来纳州达勒姆的一个高负担邮政编码中，非洲裔美国人比例最高的人口普查区的空气质量比同一邮政编码中大多数欧洲裔美国人的人口普查区差。虽然这些结果不适合用于因果推理，但它们展示了公平分配、互联空气质量传感器的潜力。
