Social Determinants of Health, Environmental Exposures and Home Radon Testing

2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110095
Author(s):  
Stacy R. Stanifer ◽  
Mary Kay Rayens ◽  
Amanda Wiggins ◽  
Ellen J. Hahn

Home radon testing is a primary lung cancer prevention strategy, yet the majority of Americans have not tested their home. This descriptive, ecological study uses 54,683 observed radon values collected in Kentucky homes from 1996 to 2016 to examine the association of county-level social determinants of health and environmental exposures on home radon testing rates. Multivariate linear regression analysis indicates that as median home value, rurality, and radon risk potential increased, counties experienced an increase in annual home radon testing rates. As adult smoking prevalence increased, counties experienced a decrease in annual rates of residential radon testing. These findings indicate that counties with low median home values, high adult smoking prevalence, and high incidence of lung cancer may benefit most from prevention interventions aimed at promoting home radon testing, adopting radon- and smoke-free home policies, and integrating radon risk reduction messaging into tobacco cessation and lung cancer screening programs.

2022 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Donghoon Shin ◽  
Michael D.C. Fishman ◽  
Michael Ngo ◽  
Jeffrey Wang ◽  
Christina A. LeBedis

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (s1) ◽  
pp. 82-83
Author(s):  
Sarah Wiehe ◽  
Aaron Zych ◽  
Karen Hinshaw ◽  
Ann Alley ◽  
Gina Claxton ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The goal of this project was to inform four chronic disease initiatives, working together on the team Connections IN Health, and counties in Indiana on certain areas of need to assist them in collaborative planning. The chronic diseases focused on include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, asthma, lung cancer and obesity. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Chronic disease health outcomes and social determinants of health indicators were identified in all 92 Indiana counties. Counties were compared by composite z scores in a matrix to determine the 23 counties with the poorest health statistics for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, asthma, lung cancer, obesity and life expectancy. Qualitative data were used to identify local health coalitions that have the capacity and desire to work with Connections IN Health to improve these health outcomes. With input from partners, the counties were narrowed to 10 that were identified as those with the most need in the specific areas of chronic disease that the initiatives focus on. The team will begin listening sessions with two of these counties to identify strategic partnerships, funding sources, and evidence-based programs to address community-identified health priorities. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The 23 counties with the poorest health outcomes related to chronic disease and factors were Blackford, Clark, Clay, Fayette, Fulton, Grant, Greene, Howard, Jay, Jennings, Knox, Lake, LaPorte, Madison, Marion, Pike, Scott, Starke, Sullivan, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, and Washington. There was significant overlap in low z score rankings for individual health and social determinants of health measures among these 23 counties. The following 10 counties were selected for focus in the next five years based on partner input: Blackford, Clay, Grant, Jennings, Lake, Madison, Marion, Starke, Vermillion, and Washington. The Connections IN Health team has initiated listening sessions in Grant and Vermillion Counties (with data for presentation at the ACTS meeting). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This mixed methods approach using existing data and partner input on county capacity/readiness directed Connections IN Health to counties with the most need for coalition efforts. Engagement within each county will inform next steps (e.g., capacity building, partnership development, applications for funding, implementation of evidence-based programs) and specific health focus area(s).


2022 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-87
Author(s):  
Leo Goldsmith ◽  
Michelle L. Bell

The LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/-sexual, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and all subsects) population has been the target of federal and state discriminatory policies leading to high levels of institutional discrimination in the housing, employment, and health sectors. Social determinants of health such as housing conditions, economic opportunities, and access to health care may negatively and disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ population and reduce their capacity to respond to environmental harm (e.g., obtaining necessary medical care). Social determinants of health have been shown to be associated with unequal harmful environmental exposure, primarily along lines of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. However, chronic diseases, such as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, associated with environmental exposure have been shown to occur in higher rates in the LGBTQ+ population than in the cisgender, heterosexual population. We explore how environmental exposures may disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ population through examples of environmental exposures, health risks that have been linked to environmental exposures, and social institutions that could affect resilience to environmental stressors for this population. We provide recommendations for policymakers, public health officials, and researchers. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):79–87. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306406 )


2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saty Satya-Murti ◽  
Jennifer Gutierrez

The Los Angeles Plaza Community Center (PCC), an early twentieth-century Los Angeles community center and clinic, published El Mexicano, a quarterly newsletter, from 1913 to 1925. The newsletter’s reports reveal how the PCC combined walk-in medical visits with broader efforts to address the overall wellness of its attendees. Available records, some with occasional clinical details, reveal the general spectrum of illnesses treated over a twelve-year span. Placed in today’s context, the medical care given at this center was simple and minimal. The social support it provided, however, was multifaceted. The center’s caring extended beyond providing medical attention to helping with education, nutrition, employment, transportation, and moral support. Thus, the social determinants of health (SDH), a prominent concern of present-day public health, was a concept already realized and practiced by these early twentieth-century Los Angeles Plaza community leaders. Such practices, although not yet nominally identified as SDH, had their beginnings in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century social activism movement aiming to mitigate the social ills and inequities of emerging industrial nations. The PCC was one of the pioneers in this effort. Its concerns and successes in this area were sophisticated enough to be comparable to our current intentions and aspirations.


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