Assessing Air Pollution Exposures among a Vulnerable Rural Disparities Population

在理解关键人口亚群如何导致健康差距方面存在根本性差距 在更大的人口中。其中一个关键群体包括居住在阿巴拉契亚农村煤矿的人 社区。严重的健康差距并不是均匀分布在整个阿巴拉契亚地区，但 集中在这些社区。这种知识鸿沟的持续存在代表着一个重要的 问题是，在它得到填补之前，消除差距和改善所有群体健康的国家目标 将不会实现。在强有力的先前数据的指导下，这一群体经历的健康问题不可能 通过只关注来自社会经济、行为或医疗保健劣势的常规风险来解决， 但也需要注意了解采矿业活动造成的环境污染 造成人口健康不平等。长期目标是更好地理解并随后减少 环境污染物对这一人群健康状况不佳的影响。这件事的目的是 具体应用是确定环境和个人接触水平的两个重要类别 农村居民中的化学品、多环芳烃(PAHs)和阻燃剂(FR) 有没有露天开采的社区，并将这些化学物质的水平与生物标志物 效果。[这项研究将包括120名成年人，他们住在离西部活跃的露天煤矿2英里以内的地方 弗吉尼亚州，或者在距离采矿至少40英里的匹配社区。参与者将完成一次健康访谈 并提供血液样本以测量炎症和甲状腺功能。他们还会穿上硅胶 用于被动采样多环芳烃和FRS的腕带。采矿室内和室外PAHs和FRS的采样 和控制社区也将进行。重要的是，高中生和大学生将成为 作为研究助理招聘，并将通过这个R15机制获得有意义的经验。学生 还将为实施宣传计划做出重要贡献，向当地利益攸关方通报 研究结果。]这种方法是创新的，因为它检查了以前未被识别的接触来源 在一个新的人群中使用这些化学物质，因为它使用硅胶腕带作为新的，廉价的， 被动采样器，可引导进行更大规模的暴露监测研究。拟议的研究是 意义重大，因为它承诺提供关于高健康差距的驱动因素的重要新信息 并为社区提供了可操作的成果。归根结底，这种知识具有 有可能为减少和消除长期抵制的健康不平等铺平道路 改变的常规努力；取而代之的是对以前未被承认的环境贡献的了解 可以导致适当的行为和政策干预，以减少这一人群的健康不平等。

There is a fundamental gap in understanding how key population subgroups contribute to health disparities within larger populations. One such key subgroup includes those who reside in rural Appalachian coal mining communities. Profound health disparities are not uniformly distributed throughout Appalachia but are concentrated in these communities. Continued existence of this knowledge gap represents an important problem because, until it is filled, the national goal to eliminate disparities and improve the health of all groups will not be achieved. Guided by strong prior data, the health problems experienced by this group cannot be resolved by attending only to conventional risks from socioeconomic, behavioral, or health care disadvantages, but also require attention to understanding how environmental pollution from activities of the mining industry contribute to population health inequities. The long term goal is to better understand and subsequently reduce the contributions of environmental pollutants to poor health outcomes in this population. The objective in this particular application is to identify the ambient and personal exposure levels of two important classes of chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and flame retardants (FRs), among residents of rural communities with and without surface coal mining, and relate levels of these chemicals to biological markers of effect. [The study will include 120 adults who live either within two miles of active surface coal mining in West Virginia, or in matched communities at least 40 miles from mining. Participants will complete a health interview and provide a blood sample to measure inflammation and thyroid function. They will also wear a silicone wristband for passive sampling of PAHs and FRs. Indoor and outdoor sampling of PAHs and FRs in mining and control communities will also be undertaken. Importantly, high school and college students will be recruited as research assistants and will gain meaningful experience through this R15 mechanism. Students will also make essential contributions to implementing a communications plan to inform local stakeholders of study results.] The approach is innovative because it examines a previously unrecognized source of exposure to these chemicals in a novel population, and because it employs silicone wristbands as novel, inexpensive, passive samplers that can lead the way to larger scale exposure monitoring studies. The proposed research is significant because it promises to offer essential new information on the drivers of health disparities in a high priority population and provides the community with actionable results. Ultimately, such knowledge has the potential to pave the way toward the reduction and elimination of health inequities that have long resisted conventional efforts to change; instead, knowledge on previously unrecognized environmental contributions can lead to appropriate behavioral and policy interventions to reduce health inequities for this population.