Environmental Justice in the American Public Health Context: Trends in the Scientific Literature at the Intersection Between Health, Environment, and Social Status
| Autor: | Ouahiba Laribi, Audrey Smith |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Health (social science) Sociology and Political Science Distribution (economics) Context (language use) Scientific literature 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Social Justice Political science Environmental health medicine Humans 030212 general & internal medicine Environmental justice Social stress 030505 public health business.industry Health Policy Public health Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Environmental Exposure Social Status United States Health equity Anthropology Environmental Justice Public Health 0305 other medical science business Social status |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. 9:247-256 |
| ISSN: | 2196-8837 2197-3792 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s40615-020-00949-7 |
| Popis: | Although various governmental entities in the USA are required to consider environmental justice (EJ) impacts of their actions during decision-making, socially vulnerable groups continue to be disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards. Tools and programs to quantify and mitigate environmental injustices are limited by existing data, which may not capture the full range of health disparities exacerbated by the complex interactions between environmental exposures and social stressors. In this study, we analyzed how the scientific literature approaches EJ issues in the USA. We searched PubMed for journal articles discussing at least one sociodemographic or environmental variable in the context of cumulative impacts and analyzed the relative frequency with which various EJ topics were studied. Our findings indicate that demographic variables are commonly used in epidemiologic studies, though some areas (e.g., age) are better studied than others. Similarly, occupational exposure and ambient air pollution were more studied than other types of exposures. Word frequency analyses revealed which toxicants and health outcomes are the most frequently studied. In addition, temporality analyses showed that the rate of occupational publications rose rapidly in the 1970-1980s and has since plateaued, while other publication rates increased two decades later and are still on the rise. Cumulative impacts are considered in a relatively small portion of journal articles across all topics; nevertheless, they have seen an exponential climb in the last decade. A more equitable distribution of scientific efforts might be needed for a better distribution of funding, policy-making efforts, and other resources to socially and environmentally vulnerable communities. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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