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Environmental quality and infant mortality
Citation:
JAGAI, J. S., L. C. Messner, AND K. K. Rapazzo. Environmental quality and infant mortality. Presented at Society of Epidemiology (SER) Annual meeting, Minneapolis, MN, June 27 - 30, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
We combined data for multiple environmental domains to construct one index representing overall county-level environmental conditions; domainspecific models showed mixed associations with infant mortality.
Description:
The relationship between environmental conditions and human health varies by environmental media. In order to account for multiple ambient environmental conditions, we constructed an Environmental Quality Index (EQI)for use in health research. We used u.s. county level data representing five environmental domains (air, water, land, built, and sociodemographic) and principal components analysis to construct the EQI and domain specific indices for each county in the u.s. (n=3141). Fixed slope, random intercept multilevel logistic models assessed the relationship between the county-level EQI and each of the domain specific indices with infant mortality (1M) using the u.s. linked births/infant deaths data for 2002 (4/027A79 birth records; 27/527 infant deaths). Residence in a county with poor environmental quality (4th quartile) compared to the best quality (1st quartile) was not significantly associated with 1M (odds ratio (OR)=0.98; 95% confidence interval (95%CI):0.911 1.07). When examining domain specific indices and IMI residence in counties with the worst air and built environment conditions, compared to residence in counties with the best conditions, was associated with an increased odds of 1M (air: OR=1.041 95%CI:0.961 1.14; built: OR=1.091 95%CI: 1.021 1.17). However, the opposite relationship was estimated for the water, land, and sociodemographic domains (OR=0.891 95%CI:0.841 0.94; OR=0.771 95%CI: 0.731 0.82; OR=0.881 95%CI: 0.821 0.951 respectively). Race-stratified models also were run and results will be presented. We combined data for multiple environmental domains to construct one index representing overall county-level environmental conditions; domainspecific models showed mixed associations with infant mortality. This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy