Racialized Structural Vulnerability: Neighborhood Racial Composition, Concentrated Disadvantage, and Fine Particulate Matter in California.

Raoul S Liévanos

doi:10.3390/ijerph16173196

Abstract

This study contributes to previous research by advancing a “racialized structural vulnerability” framework and presenting a new empirical analysis of the relationship between neighborhood Asian, Black, and Latinx composition; extrinsic and intrinsic vulnerability; and PM2.5 exposures in California with secondary data from 2004–2014. Principal component analyses revealed that tract Latinx composition was highly correlated with extrinsic vulnerability (economic disadvantage and limited English-speaking ability), and that tract Black composition was highly correlated with intrinsic vulnerability (elevated prevalence of asthma-related emergency department visits and low birth weight). Spatial lag regression models tested hypotheses regarding the association between Asian, Black, and Latinx population vulnerability factors and the 2009–2011 annual average PM2.5 percentile rankings, net of emissions and spatial covariates. Results indicated that the percent Latinx population, followed by the regional clustering of PM2.5, and the percent of non-Latinx Black and non-Latinx Asian population were the strongest positive multivariable correlates of PM2.5 percentile rankings, net of other factors. Additional analyses suggested that despite shifting demographic and spatial correlates of 2012–2014 PM2.5 exposures, the tracts’ Black and Latinx composition and location in the San Joaquin Valley remain important vulnerability factors with implications for future research and policy.

Highlights

This study demonstrates how neighborhood racial composition is significantly associated with concentrated disadvantage and PM2.5 exposure vulnerabilities differentially among Asians, Blacks, and Latinxs in ways that elaborate on similar findings regarding cumulative pollution burden in California during the same period [18]
An important emergent theme across all the results of this study is that tracts with elevated concentrations of Latinxs are double-burdened by elevated levels of extrinsic vulnerability and PM2.5 exposures in California, net of other factors considered in the analysis
Illuminating the influence of such historical and institutional forces might help to identify causal factors in the formation of race-based environmental health vulnerabilities as well as strategic points of intervention in planning and governance processes to advance environmental justice and health equity [93]. This statewide, tract-level, cross-sectional study contributes to previous research by advancing a racialized structural vulnerability framework for examining the relationship between neighborhood racial composition, intrinsic and extrinsic vulnerability, and PM2.5 exposures in California

Summary

Introduction

Airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) is a complex chemical mixture of solid and liquid particles that are emitted directly into the air or result indirectly from the conversion of precursor chemicals. PM2.5 can remain airborne for days to weeks and travel as far as 1000 km from its natural and anthropogenic sources—the latter of which are primarily traffic and industrial emissions [2]. These attributes of PM2.5 enable it to travel great distances and penetrate critical gas exchange activity in the lungs as well as lung tissue and even the blood stream [3]. Around the world, elevated PM2.5 exposures contribute to premature death, adverse fetal and infant health outcomes, and a variety of cardiovascular and respiratory impairments and diseases [1,2,4]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion