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IMPROVING ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES: A FUNDAMENTAL CAUSE APPROACH
Description:
Specific aims of the study are to examine the interactions between exposure to environmental hazards, racial residential segregation and access to care; and the direct and indirect effects of such environmental factors on incidence and delay in diagnosis of breast, cervical, and lung cancer. In addition, neighborhood environment and social factors are known to be associated with risk exposure, screening patterns and access to care, thus an association with environmental risk exposure and late stage of diagnosis can be expected. Although various cancer types have been documented to be associated with environmental hazards, no clear associations between environmental (air) cancer risk and actual cancer incidences are established. Particularly, preliminary findings from this grant so far indicate that there is no distinct association between environmental cancer risk (EPA NATA measure based on air pollution) and the distribution of cancer incidences. Furthermore, the NATA cancer risk does not correlate with neighborhood racial composition and income. This is a very interesting finding that needs to be further evaluated because we do see the spatial cluster of NATA cancer risk, and yet race and income do not explain the cluster.
To better understand this patter and identify potential factors for the cancer risk and the link between the risk and cancer incidences, a series of OLS and spatial regression analyses will be modeled at the census tract level in Cook County, IL. A Geographic Information System (GIS) will be used to visually demonstrate distributions of environmental hazards, health care facilities, (SES), and racial segregation