A Pilot Study to Examine Exposure to Residential Radon in Under-Sampled Census Tracts of DeKalb County, Georgia, in 2015.

Christine Stauber,Richard Rothenberg,Jeremy Diem,Sydney Chan,Scott Weaver,Dajun Dai

doi:10.3390/ijerph14030332

Christine Stauber, Richard Rothenberg + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14030332

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Abstract

While DeKalb County, Georgia, offers free radon screening for all eligible residents, portions of the county remain relatively under-sampled. This pilot study focused on 10% of the census tracts in the county with the lowest proportion of radon testing; most were in southern DeKalb County. In total, 217 households were recruited and homes were tested for indoor radon concentrations on the lowest livable floor over an eight-week period from March–May 2015. Tract-level characteristics were examined to understand the differences in socio-demographic and economic factors between the pilot study area and the rest of the county. The pilot study tracts had a higher proportion of African Americans compared to the rest of DeKalb County (82% versus 47%). Radon was detected above 11.1 Bq/m3 (0.3 pCi/L) in 73% of the indoor samples and 4% of samples were above 148 Bq/m3 (4 pCi/L). Having a basement was the strongest predictive factor for detectable and hazardous levels of radon. Radon screening can identify problems and spur homeowners to remediate but more research should be done to identify why screening rates vary across the county and how that varies with radon levels in homes to reduce radon exposure.

Highlights

In terms of other differences between our sample and the rest of DeKalb County, GA when comparing our 14 census tracts to the rest of the county, we found a statistically significant difference in the proportion of African Americans compared to the rest of the county, 82% versus
We found that radon exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moderate risk levels in 18% of households and exceeded high risk in 4% of the homes tested
While this proportion is lower than other aggregate results from the county, it does suggest that households in under-sampled areas may be at risk for potential health outcomes from exposure to residential radon

Summary

Introduction

Radon has been classified as a known human lung carcinogen [1]. In pooled case-control studies in both Europe and North America, researchers found direct evidence that residential exposure to radon was associated with lung cancer risk [2,3]. In the United States, radon is currently the second leading cause of lung cancer, behind only smoking cigarettes; it is the number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers [1]. From 1988 to 2013, approximately 25 million tests for radon were completed in the. U.S most of these were the result of real estate transactions [4]. The results of these screening tests are often not shared widely as a lack of resources constrains the information about the proportion of homes above hazardous levels

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