Increasing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Ambient Air Pollution-Attributable Morbidity and Mortality in the United States
Gaige Hunter Kerr, Aaron van Donkelaar, Randall V. Martin, Michael Bräuer, Katrin Bukart, Sarah Wozniak, Daniel L. Goldberg, Susan C. Anenberg
Abstract
BACKGROUND: ) threaten public health in the US, and systemic racism has led to modern-day disparities in the distribution and associated health impacts of these pollutants. OBJECTIVES: health impacts across the entire US; document changing disparities in these health burdens over time (2010-2019); and evaluate how more stringent air quality standards would reduce disparities in health impacts associated with these pollutants. METHODS: using health impact functions that combine demographic data from the US Census Bureau; two spatially resolved pollutant datasets, which fuse satellite data with physical and statistical models; and epidemiologically derived relative risk estimates and incidence rates from the Global Burden of Disease study. RESULTS: pediatric asthma by 10%. DISCUSSION: Enacting and attaining more stringent air quality standards for both pollutants could preferentially benefit the most marginalized and minoritized communities by greatly reducing racial and ethnic relative disparities in pollution-attributable health burdens in the US. Our methods provide a semi-observational approach to track changes in disparities in air pollution and associated health burdens across the US. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11900.