TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental Exposure Disparities and Neurodevelopmental Risk
T2 - a Review
AU - Dickerson, Aisha S.
AU - Frndak, Seth
AU - DeSantiago, Melissa
AU - Mohan, Ankita
AU - Smith, Genee S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions (U54MD000214). Aisha Dickerson is partially supported by funds from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (K01ES032046: PI, Dickerson), an Opportunities and Infrastructure Fund (OIF) sub-award via NIH funding to the Environmental Influence on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program (U2COD023375-06), and Bloomberg Philanthropies through the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - Purpose of Review: Neurotoxicant exposures are of particular concern in historically marginalized communities. Often a consequence of structural racism, low-income minoritized populations experience a disproportionate burden of hazardous exposures through proximity to industrial facilities, high traffic roads, and suboptimal housing. Here, we summarize reports on exposures and neurodevelopment focused on differences by education, income, race/ethnicity, or immigration status from 2015 to 2022, discuss the importance of such investigations in overburdened communities, and recommend areas for future research. Recent Findings: We found 20 studies that investigated exposure disparities and neurodevelopment in children. Most were conducted in the USA, and many focused on air pollution, followed by metal exposures and water contamination. Although several studies showed differences in exposure-outcome associations by income and education, many examining differences by race/ethnicity did not report notable disparities between groups. However, measures of individual race and ethnicity are not reliable measures of discrimination experienced as a consequence of structural racism. Summary: Our review supports scientific evidence that the reduction of individual and widespread municipal exposures will improve child development and overall public health. Identified research gaps include the use of better indicators of economic status and structural racism, evaluations of effect modification and attributable fraction of outcomes by these factors, and considerations of multidimensional neighborhood factors that could be protective against environmental insults. Considering that vulnerable populations have disparities in access to and quality of care, greater burden of exposure, and fewer resources to incur associated expenses, such populations should be prioritized.
AB - Purpose of Review: Neurotoxicant exposures are of particular concern in historically marginalized communities. Often a consequence of structural racism, low-income minoritized populations experience a disproportionate burden of hazardous exposures through proximity to industrial facilities, high traffic roads, and suboptimal housing. Here, we summarize reports on exposures and neurodevelopment focused on differences by education, income, race/ethnicity, or immigration status from 2015 to 2022, discuss the importance of such investigations in overburdened communities, and recommend areas for future research. Recent Findings: We found 20 studies that investigated exposure disparities and neurodevelopment in children. Most were conducted in the USA, and many focused on air pollution, followed by metal exposures and water contamination. Although several studies showed differences in exposure-outcome associations by income and education, many examining differences by race/ethnicity did not report notable disparities between groups. However, measures of individual race and ethnicity are not reliable measures of discrimination experienced as a consequence of structural racism. Summary: Our review supports scientific evidence that the reduction of individual and widespread municipal exposures will improve child development and overall public health. Identified research gaps include the use of better indicators of economic status and structural racism, evaluations of effect modification and attributable fraction of outcomes by these factors, and considerations of multidimensional neighborhood factors that could be protective against environmental insults. Considering that vulnerable populations have disparities in access to and quality of care, greater burden of exposure, and fewer resources to incur associated expenses, such populations should be prioritized.
KW - Behavioral problems
KW - Cognitive function
KW - Environmental justice
KW - Environmental pollutants
KW - Exposure disparities
KW - Neurodevelopment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85151403672&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85151403672&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s40572-023-00396-6
DO - 10.1007/s40572-023-00396-6
M3 - Review article
C2 - 37002432
AN - SCOPUS:85151403672
SN - 2196-5412
VL - 10
SP - 73
EP - 83
JO - Current environmental health reports
JF - Current environmental health reports
IS - 2
ER -