Abstract

Ambient air pollution exposure is associated with exacerbating respiratory illnesses. Race/ethnicity (R/E) have been shown to influence an individual’s vulnerability to environmental health risks such as fine particles (PM 2.5). This study aims to assess the R/E disparities in vulnerability to air pollution with regards to respiratory hospital admissions in San Diego County, California where most days fall below National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for daily PM 2.5 concentrations. Daily PM 2.5 levels were estimated at the zip code level using a spatial interpolation using inverse-distance weighting from monitor networks. The association between daily PM 2.5 levels and respiratory hospital admissions in San Diego County over a 15-year period from 1999 to 2013 was assessed with a time-series analysis using a multi-level Poisson regression model. Cochran Q tests were used to assess the effect modification of race/ethnicity on this association. Daily fine particle levels varied greatly from 1 μg/m³ to 75.86 μg/m³ (SD = 6.08 μg/m³) with the majority of days falling below 24-hour NAAQS for PM 2.5 of 35 μg/m³. For every 10 μg/m³ increase in PM 2.5 levels, Black and White individuals had higher rates (8.6% and 6.2%, respectively) of hospitalization for respiratory admissions than observed in the county as a whole (4.1%). Increases in PM 2.5 levels drive an overall increase in respiratory hospital admissions with a disparate burden of health effects by R/E group. These findings suggest an opportunity to design interventions that address the unequal burden of air pollution among vulnerable communities in San Diego County that exist even below NAAQS for daily PM 2.5 concentrations.

摘要

暴露于环境空气污染会加剧呼吸道疾病。种族/民族（R / E）已证明会影响个人对环境健康风险（如细颗粒物（PM 2.5））的脆弱性。这项研究的目的是评估在加利福尼亚州圣地亚哥县呼吸系统医院入院的空气污染脆弱性方面的R / E差异，那里每天的PM 2.5浓度大部分时间都低于国家环境空气质量标准（NAAQS）。使用空间插值（使用来自监控器网络的反距离权重）在邮政编码级别上估计每日PM 2.5级别。每日PM 2之间的关联。使用多级Poisson回归模型，通过时间序列分析评估了1999年至2013年这15年间圣地亚哥县的5个水平和呼吸道住院患者。Cochran Q检验用于评估种族/种族对此关联的影响。每日细颗粒物的水平差异很大，从1μg/ m起³至75.86μg/ m ³（SD = 6.08μg/ m ³），对于PM 2.5为35μg/ m ³，大多数日子都低于24小时NAAQS 。PM 2.5浓度每增加10μg/ m ³，黑人和白人的住院呼吸道住院率（分别为8.6％和6.2％）高于整个县（4.1％）。PM / PM 2.5的水平升高导致呼吸系统住院患者的总体增加，而R / E组对健康的影响却截然不同。这些发现为设计干预措施提供了机会，以解决圣地亚哥县脆弱社区每天空气中PM 2.5浓度甚至低于NAAQS所造成的不平等的空气污染负担。