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The Effects of Historical Residential Redlining on Temporal Trends of Traffic-Related Air Pollution Levels Measured Near New York City Schools
32 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2022
More...Abstract
Background: The historical practice of redlining based on racial demographics and perceived risk for mortgage investment has perpetuated racial and economic segregation, and health disparities. Interventions near schools where children spend large portions of the day, could impact large groups of children but schools are an often-overlooked environment for exposure. Despite a declining trend of ambient pollution in New York City (NYC) between 1998 and 2012, little is known about differences in air quality improvement near schools by historical redlining neighborhood status.
Methods: We examined temporal trends of annual average street-level concentrations of black carbon (BC), particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and nitric oxide (NO), within a 250-meter radius around NYC public schools between 2009-2018 (n=1,800 schools). Annual percent change (APC) in pollutant concentration was calculated. Models were further stratified by historical redlining and a multiplicative interaction term (year of monitoring×historical redlining) was used to assess effect modification.
Findings: Overall, there was a decreasing trend of BC (APC=-4.40%), PM2.5 (-3.92%), NO2 (-2.66%), and NO (-6.20%) during the 10-year period. A smaller reduction of BC, PM 2.5 and NO was observed in redlined neighborhoods (n=885), compared to others (n=915): BC (APC: -4.11% vs. -4.69%; Pinteraction <0.01), PM2.5 (-3.82% vs. -4.11%; Pinteraction <0.01), and NO (-5.73% vs -6.67%; Pinteraction <0.01). Temporal trends of NO2 did not differ by historical redlining (Pinteraction =0.74).
Interpretation: Despite significant reductions in annual average pollution concentrations across NYC, schools in historically redlined neighborhoods, compared to others, experienced smaller decrease in pollution, highlighting a potential ongoing ramification of the discriminatory practice.
Funding Information: This work was supported by NIH (K01HL140216, P30ES09089), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Amos Medical Faculty Development Award Program. The funding bodies were not involved in the design of the study and collection, analysis, interpretation of data or in the writing of the manuscript.
Declaration of Interests: None of the authors have financial relationships with a commercial entity that has an interest in the subject of this manuscript. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Ethics Approval Statement: This study has been approved by Columbia University Human Subjects protocol AAAI0459. Informed consent to participate has been obtained from study participants or their legal guardian.
Keywords: School environment, temporal variations, traffic-related air pollutants, redlining, social vulnerability
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