Background

Cumulative environmental exposures and social deprivation increase health vulnerability and limit the capacity of populations to adapt to climate change.

Objective

Our study aimed at providing a fine-scale characterization of exposure to heat, air pollution, and lack of vegetation in continental France between 2000 and 2018, describing spatiotemporal trends and environmental hotspots (i.e., areas that cumulate the highest levels of overexposure), and exploring any associations with social deprivation.

Methods

The European (EDI) and French (FDep) social deprivation indices, the normalized difference vegetation index, daily ambient temperatures, particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀), nitrogen dioxide, and ozone (O₃) concentrations were estimated for 48,185 French census districts. Reference values were chosen to characterize (over-)exposure. Hotspots were defined as the areas cumulating the highest overexposure to temperature, air pollution, and lack of vegetation. Associations between heat overexposure or hotspots and social deprivation were assessed using logistic regressions.

Results

Overexposure to heat was higher in 2015–2018 compared with 2000–2014. Exposure to all air pollutants except for O₃ decreased during the study period. In 2018, more than 79% of the urban census districts exceeded the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines. The evolution of vegetation density between 2000 and 2018 was heterogeneous across continental France. In urban areas, the most deprived census districts were at a higher risk of being hotspots (odds ratio (OR): 10.86, 95% CI: 9.87–11.98 using EDI and OR: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.04–1.11 using FDep).

Impact statement

We studied cumulative environmental exposures and social deprivation in French census districts. The 2015–2018 period showed the highest overexposure to heat between 2000 and 2018. In 2018, the air quality did not meet the 2021 WHO guidelines in most census districts and 8.6 million people lived in environmental hotspots. Highly socially deprived urban areas had a higher risk of being in a hotspot. This study proposes for the first time, a methodology to identify hotspots of exposure to heat, air pollution, and lack of vegetation and their associations with social deprivation at a national level.

中文翻译：

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法国大陆的环境和社会不平等：对高温、空气污染和植被缺乏的分析

背景

累积的环境暴露和社会剥夺增加了健康脆弱性并限制了人们适应气候变化的能力。

客观的

我们的研究旨在提供 2000 年至 2018 年间法国大陆暴露于高温、空气污染和植被缺乏的精细特征，描述时空趋势和环境热点（即累积过度暴露水平最高的区域），以及探索与社会剥夺的任何联系。

方法

欧洲 (EDI) 和法国 (FDep) 社会剥夺指数、归一化植被指数差异、每日环境温度、颗粒物（PM _2.5和 PM ₁₀）、二氧化氮和臭氧 (O ₃ ) 浓度是针对 48,185 项法国人口普查进行估算的地区。选择参考值来表征（过度）曝光。热点被定义为温度、空气污染和植被缺乏累积程度最高的区域。使用逻辑回归评估过热或热点与社会剥夺之间的关联。

结果

与 2000-2014 年相比，2015-2018 年的过度高温暴露程度更高。在研究期间，除O ₃之外的所有空气污染物的暴露量均有所减少。2018年，超过79%的城市人口普查区超出了2021年世界卫生组织空气质量指南。2000 年至 2018 年间，法国大陆植被密度的演变存在差异。在城市地区，最贫困的人口普查区成为热点的风险较高（比值比 (OR)：10.86，95% CI：9.87–11.98，使用 EDI 时为 9.87–11.98，OR：1.07，95% CI：1.04–1.11 使用 FDep 时） 。

影响报告

我们研究了法国人口普查区的累积环境暴露和社会剥夺。2015年至2018年期间，2000年至2018年期间的过度炎热程度最高。2018年，大多数人口普查区的空气质量未达到2021年世界卫生组织的指导方针，860万人生活在环境热点地区。社会高度贫困的城市地区处于热点地区的风险更高。这项研究首次提出了一种方法来确定暴露在高温、空气污染和植被缺乏的热点地区及其与国家一级社会剥夺的关系。