Poor air quality has been a major concern this year in New England, but a new Yale-led study is highlighting how certain racial groups have suffered disproportionate health impacts from air pollution for years.
Using data from from 2001 to 2016, 鈥� found cardiac-related deaths from (PM2.5) were over three times more common among Black people than white people. Researchers also found Hispanic people who died under the same conditions had a higher morbidity rate than whites.
Dr. Kai Chen, who teaches at Yale School of Public Health, says he on a neighborhood level. In the meantime, he said, the country needs more equitable policies to reduce air pollution for all.
鈥淎mong all the great work we have done, like the Clean Air Act, that has been tremendously successful in lowering the air pollution in the United States,鈥� Chen said, 鈥渨e might need to think a little bit differently to have targeted strategies to reduce more pollution.鈥�
The team鈥檚 findings also have to do with general health vulnerability, Chen said. Research shows Black people are more predisposed to heart disease from , in addition to disparities in . Historical policies like also play into current air pollution disparities.
are tiny droplets that can come from sources like vehicle emissions or power plants. They can damage the cardiovascular system when inhaled, which is why breathing smoke from wildfires 鈥� another source of PM2.5 鈥� is dangerous to human health.
Despite hazy smoke from Canada causing widespread air pollution across of the U.S. earlier this year, Chen鈥檚 research shows there have been more reductions in PM2.5-linked cardiovascular diseases on the east coast, compared to the western U.S., .
