Abstract
One in every four deaths in the United States is attributed to heart disease. While the ethnic variations have not been momentous, the socioeconomic disparities of heart disease incidence need to be further investigated. Moreover, exposure to air pollutants has been documented to cause heart disease. This secondary-data study investigates the effects of air pollutants as well as socioeconomic factors on hospitalization rate of heart disease in Texas. The rates for the five sub-diagnoses of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, hypertension and heart disease were linked to ozone, fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and socioeconomic status factors at the county level. These were college education attainment, households with female heads, percentage of users of food stamps, ethnicities, living near a park and living in houses with severe housing problems. Spatial lag modelling was conducted to estimate the statistical significance of the independent variables on the five sub-diagnoses of heart disease. Fine particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and being African American were significant to all the outcomes. Living in a household with female head was significant to stroke and hypertension. Using food stamps was significant to cardiovascular disease, heart attack and heart disease. Fine particulate matter and sulphur dioxide increase the risk of heart disease by a factor of three to twenty two times, respectively. Whereas low socioeconomic status increases the risk of heart disease by a factor of up to four times. The results of the effect of particulate air and sulphur dioxide pollution among people in low social class especially African Americans. The vicious cycle of heart disease and low socioeconomic status call for societal and policy makers’ attention through methodical interventions to address the two significant issues of industrial facilities site allocation and stationary emission resources.
Highlights
More than 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States (US) every year
Obesity, diet, physical activity and excessive alcohol use. It refers to several heart conditions including cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart attack, stroke, hypertension and heart disease [1]
These outcomes have been positively associated to air pollution [2] [3] and negatively related to socioeconomic status (SES) [4] [5]
Summary
Obesity, diet, physical activity and excessive alcohol use It refers to several heart conditions including cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart attack, stroke, hypertension and heart disease [1]. The American Cancer Society cohort estimated that for each 10-μg/m3 increase in annual mean exposure to PM2.5, cardiopulmonary mortality was increased by approximately 6% [6]. Among these air pollutants particulate matter has gained most of the research attention due to the considerable evidence of its adverse health effects [2] [4] [7]-[10]. Risk factors that have been documented to increase the risk of heart disease include age, low educational attainment, presence of pre-existing cardiorespiratory condition [6], diabetes mellitus and smoking [11]
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