Assessing Air Pollution Exposures among a Vulnerable Rural Disparities Population

在理解关键人口亚群如何促成健康差距方面存在根本性差距 在更大的人群中。其中一个关键的亚群包括那些居住在阿巴拉契亚农村煤矿的人 社区.在整个阿巴拉契亚地区，严重的健康差距并不是均匀分布的， 集中在这些社区。这种知识差距的持续存在， 这是因为，在这一问题得到解决之前，消除差距和改善所有群体健康的国家目标 将无法实现。在强有力的先前数据的指导下，这一群体所经历的健康问题不可能是 通过只关注来自社会经济、行为或医疗保健不利因素的传统风险来解决， 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。在这方面的目标 一个特殊的应用是确定两个重要类别的环境和个人暴露水平， 化学品，多环芳烃（PAHs）和阻燃剂（FR），在农村居民 有和没有地表采煤的社区，并将这些化学品的水平与生物标志物联系起来。 效果[The这项研究将包括120名成年人，他们居住在西部活跃的露天煤矿两英里范围内， 弗吉尼亚州，或距离矿区至少40英里的匹配社区。参与者将完成健康访谈 并提供血液样本以测量炎症和甲状腺功能。他们也会戴上硅胶 用于多环芳烃和阻燃剂被动采样的腕带。采矿中多环芳烃和阻燃剂的室内和室外采样 和控制社区也将进行。重要的是，高中生和大学生将 招聘为研究助理，并将通过R15机制获得有意义的经验。学生 还将为执行一项宣传计划作出重要贡献， 研究结果]。该方法是创新的，因为它检查了以前未被识别的暴露源 这些化学物质在一个新的人口，因为它采用了硅腕带作为新颖，廉价， 被动采样器，可以引导更大规模的暴露监测研究。拟议的研究是 重要的是，它承诺提供关于高水平健康差距驱动因素的重要新信息。 优先考虑人口，并为社区提供可操作的结果。最终，这些知识 为减少和消除长期以来一直抵制的卫生不公平现象铺平道路的潜力 传统的努力改变;相反，对以前未被承认的环境贡献的知识 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公平。

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.