Targeting disparate spaces: new technology and old tools.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Inexpensive, validated air quality monitors are generating extensive data.
• Equitable distribution of these monitors is crucial for addressing health inequities.
• Existing networks offer opportunities to study disparities across racial, ethnic, and class lines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a local implementation template for air quality monitoring.
• To target air-quality mediated pulmonary health disparities in high-burden communities.
• To assess the potential of equitably distributed sensors for health research.

Main Methods:

• Leveraged inexpensive, Wi-Fi-connected air quality monitors.
• Integrated state hospital discharge data and U.S. Census data.
• Utilized community-donated monitoring locations and NIH grant funds.

Main Results:

• Preliminary data from Durham, North Carolina, showed worse air quality in a predominantly African American census tract compared to a majority European-American tract within the same zip code.
• These findings align with existing research on environmental injustice.
• The results demonstrate the potential of interconnected air quality sensors.

Conclusions:

• Equitable distribution of air quality monitoring systems is essential for addressing health disparities.
• Low-cost sensor networks can be a valuable tool for identifying and addressing environmental health inequities.
• Further research is needed to explore causal inference from sensor data.