Assessing the Distribution of Air Pollution Health Risks within Cities: A Neighborhood-Scale Analysis Leveraging High-Resolution Data Sets in the Bay Area, California
Veronica Southerland, Susan C. Anenberg, Maria H. Harris, Joshua S. Apte, Perry Hystad, Aaron van Donkelaar, Randall V. Martin, Matt Beyers, Ananya Roy
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Air pollution-attributable disease burdens reported at global, country, state, or county levels mask potential smaller-scale geographic heterogeneity driven by variation in pollution levels and disease rates. Capturing within-city variation in air pollution health impacts is now possible with high-resolution pollutant concentrations. OBJECTIVES: We quantified neighborhood-level variation in air pollution health risks, comparing results from highly spatially resolved pollutant and disease rate data sets available for the Bay Area, California. METHODS: concentrations from land-use variables and satellite observations. We also compared results using county vs. census block group (CBG) disease rates. RESULTS: (95% CI: 37, 71)]. DISCUSSION: Air pollutant-attributable health burdens varied substantially between neighborhoods, driven by spatial variation in pollutant concentrations and disease rates. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7679.