Communities of color across the United States are facing a growing burden of health problems linked to air pollution, despite overall improvements in air quality, according to a new study from George Washington University researchers.
The study, published Wednesday in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that racial and ethnic disparities in pollution-related diseases like asthma increased over the past decade.
“Redlining and systemic racism have resulted in the least white areas of the US being located near factories, congested roadways or shipping routes with heavily polluted air,” said Gaige Kerr, senior research scientist at GW’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Researchers analyzed census data and NASA satellite information to estimate pollution concentrations and health impacts across different communities. They found that compared to predominantly white areas, communities of color experienced 7.5 times higher pediatric asthma rates and 1.3 times higher premature mortality rates due to nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter pollution.
The disparity in premature deaths caused by fine particulate matter exposure between the least and most white communities increased by 16% over the last decade. For Hispanic communities, this gap widened by 40%.
“This research shows that the health disparities from exposure to these pollutants are larger than disparities in the exposures themselves, and that the disparities widened over the last decade even as pollution levels fell,” said Susan Anenberg, co-author and director of GW’s Climate and Health Institute.
The study estimated that pollution-related health impacts cost $466 billion in 2019, about 2.2% of U.S. GDP.
See “Communities of Color Across the US Suffer A Growing Burden from Polluted Air” (March 6, 2024)
