Workplace Exposures Vary Across Neighborhoods in the US

Implications on Social Vulnerability and Racial/Ethnic Health Disparities

Bibliographic Data

ID2073457
AuthorsAbas Shkembi (0000-0002-5398-861X, University of Michigan, corresponding author), Jon Zelner (0000-0002-0708-2008, University of Michigan), Sang Kyu Park (0000-0001-9981-6250), Sung Kyun Park (University of Michigan), Richard Neitzel (0000-0001-5500-2589, University of Michigan)
Year2024
Volume12
Issue5
Pages3388-3400
Publication date2024-08-30
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2196-8837 • E-ISSN: 2197-3792
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s40615-024-02143-5
PMID39212906
OpenAlexW4402045060
LanguageEN
References cited35

Ignoring workplace exposures that occur beyond the local residential context in place-based risk indices like the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) likely misclassifies community exposure by under-counting risks and obscuring true drivers of racial/ethnic health disparities. To investigate this hypothesis, we developed several place-based indicators of occupational exposure and examined their relationships with race/ethnicity, SVI, and health inequities. We used publicly available job exposure matrices and employment estimates from the United States (US) Census to create and map six indicators of occupational hazards for every census tract in the US. We characterized census tracts with high workplace-low SVI scores. We used natural cubic splines to examine tract level associations between the percentage of racial/ethnic minorities (individuals who are not non-Hispanic White) and the occupational indicators. Lastly, we stratified each census tract into high/low occupational noise, chemical pollutant, and disease/infection exposure to examine racial/ethnic health disparities to diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure, respectively, as a consequence of occupational exposure inequities. Our results show that racial/ethnic minority communities, particularly those that are also low-income, experience a disproportionate burden of workplace exposures that may be contributing to racial/ethnic health disparities. When composite risk measures, such as SVI, are calculated using only information from the local residential neighborhood, they may systematically under-count occupational risks experienced by the most vulnerable communities. There is a need to consider the role of occupational justice on nationwide, racial/ethnic health disparities

Computer security · Environmental health · Ethnic group · Health equity · Psychological resilience · Public health · Quality of Life Research · Social determinants of health · Social vulnerability · Sociology · Vulnerability (computing · Air Quality and Health Impacts · Anthropology · Climate Change and Health Impacts · Health disparities and outcomes · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Epidemiology · Gerontology

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