Population allocation at the housing unit level: estimates around underground natural gas storage wells in PA, OH, NY, WV, MI, and CA

Temporal Trends of Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Population Exposures to Upstream Oil and Gas Development in California

People living near oil and gas development are exposed to multiple environmental stressors that pose health risks. Some studies suggest these risks are higher for racially and socioeconomically marginalized people, which may be partly attributable to disparities in exposures. We examined whether racially and socioeconomically marginalized people in California are disproportionately exposed to oil and gas wells and associated hazards. We longitudinally assessed exposure to wells during three time periods (2005-2009, 2010-2014, and 2015-2019) using sociodemographic data at the census block group-level. For each block group and time period, we assessed exposure to new, active, retired, and plugged wells, and cumulative production volume. We calculated risk ratios to determine whether marginalized people disproportionately resided near wells (within 1 km). Averaged across the three time periods, we estimated that 1.1 million Californians (3.0%) lived within 1 km of active wells. Nearly 9 million Californians (22.9%) lived within 1 km of plugged wells. The proportion of Black residents near active wells was 42%-49% higher than the proportion of Black residents across California, and the proportion of Hispanic residents near active wells was 4%-13% higher than their statewide proportion. Disparities were greatest in areas with the highest oil and gas production, where the proportion of Black residents was 105%-139% higher than statewide. Socioeconomically marginalized residents also had disproportionately high exposure to wells. Though oil and gas production has declined in California, marginalized communities persistently had disproportionately high exposure to wells, potentially contributing to health disparities.

Effects of walkability on physical activity and obesity: a prospective observational study protocol

INTRODUCTION

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing worldwide, which could lead to a set of chronic and metabolic diseases. Physical activity is a modifiable factor for obesity, which was reported to be correlated with the built environment. However, the effects of the built environment on physical activity are not consistent. Walkability is a convenient way to assess the built environment. We aim to prospectively explore the relationship among walkability, physical activity and obesity in Chinese participants in Chongqing, a hilly city and provide evidence for future urban planning.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Participants will be recruited from people who receive health examination in the Health Management Centre, the First Affiliated Hospital to Army Medical University. Exposure variables are WalkScores calculated within the areas around workplace and residential addresses of participants. The primary outcomes are body mass index measured through health examination at baseline and follow-ups, and daily walking steps recorded by WeChat mini application for 30 days after every time of health examination. Other health-related data of the participants will also be collected. Multivariate regression analysis will be performed to examine the relationship between exposure variables and outcomes.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The Protocol is approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital to Army Medical University (KY201839). The results will be actively disseminated through peer-review journals and conference publications.

REGISTRATION NUMBER

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1800017680).

Who Could Not Avoid Exposure to High Levels of Residence-Based Pollution by Daily Mobility? Evidence of Air Pollution Exposure from the Perspective of the Neighborhood Effect Averaging Problem (NEAP)

It has been widely acknowledged that air pollution has a considerable adverse impact on people’s health. Disadvantaged groups such as low-income people are often found to experience greater negative effects of environmental pollution. Thus, improving the accuracy of air pollution exposure assessment might be essential to policy-making. Recently, the neighborhood effect averaging problem (NEAP) has been identified as a specific form of possible bias when assessing individual exposure to air pollution and its health impacts. In this paper, we assessed the real-time air pollution exposure and residential-based exposure of 106 participants in a high-pollution community in Beijing, China. The study found that: (1) there are significant differences between the two assessments; (2) most participants experienced the NEAP and could lower their exposure by their daily mobility; (3) three vulnerable groups with low daily mobility and could not avoid the high pollution in their residential neighborhoods were identified as exceptions to this: low-income people who have low levels of daily mobility and limited travel outside their residential neighborhoods, blue-collar workers who spend long hours at low-end workplaces, and elderly people who face many household constraints. Public policies thus need to focus on the hidden environmental injustice revealed by the NEAP in order to improve the well-being of these environmentally vulnerable groups.