Disproportionate Proximity to Environmental Health Hazards: Methods, Models, and Measurement.

Chakraborty, Jayajit; Maantay, Juliana A.; Brender, Jean D.

We sought to provide a historical overview of methods, models, and data used in the environmental justice (EJ) research literature to measure proximity to environmental hazards and potential exposure to their adverse health effects. We explored how the assessment of disproportionate proximity and exposure has evolved from comparing the prevalence of minority or low-income residents in geographic entities hosting pollution sources and discrete buffer zones to more refined techniques that use continuous distances, pollutant fate-and-transport models, and estimates of health risk from toxic exposure. We also reviewed analytical techniques used to determine the characteristics of people residing in areas potentially exposed to environmentalhazardsandemerging geostatistical techniques that are more appropriate for EJ analysis than conventional statistical methods. Weconcludedbyproviding several recommendations regarding future research and data needs for EJ assessment that would lead to more reliable results and policy solutions.

ANALYSIS of hazardous substances; BIOLOGICAL models; DEMOGRAPHY; ENVIRONMENTAL health; RESEARCH methodology; MEDLINE; ONLINE information services; POLLUTION; RESEARCH funding; SOCIAL justice; SYSTEMATIC reviews; ENVIRONMENTAL exposure; SOCIOECONOMIC factors; ETHICS

American Journal of Public Health, 2011, Vol 101, Issue S1, pS27

0090-0036

Academic Journal

10.2105/AJPH.2010.300109