TITLE:
Female Head, Food Stamps, Ethnicity and Air Pollution: Confounders or Causes of Heart Disease in Texas
AUTHORS:
Faye Anderson, Najla N. Al-Thani
KEYWORDS:
Heart Disease, Female Head, Food Stamps, Sulphur Dioxide, Particulate Matter
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Epidemiology,
Vol.6 No.2,
May
24,
2016
ABSTRACT: One in every four deaths in the United
States is attributed to heart disease. While the ethnic variations have not
been momentous, the socioeconomic disparities of heart disease incidence need
to be further investigated. Moreover, exposure to air pollutants has been
documented to cause heart disease. This secondary-data study investigates the
effects of air pollutants as well as socioeconomic factors on hospitalization
rate of heart disease in Texas. The rates for the five sub-diagnoses of
cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, hypertension and heart disease
were linked to ozone, fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen
dioxide, sulphur dioxide and socioeconomic status factors at the county level.
These were college education attainment, households with female heads,
percentage of users of food stamps, ethnicities, living near a park and living
in houses with severe housing problems. Spatial lag modelling was conducted to
estimate the statistical significance of the independent variables on the five
sub-diagnoses of heart disease. Fine particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and
being African American were significant to all the outcomes. Living in a
household with female head was significant to stroke and hypertension. Using
food stamps was significant to cardiovascular disease, heart attack and heart
disease. Fine particulate matter and sulphur dioxide increase the risk of heart
disease by a factor of three to twenty two times, respectively. Whereas low
socioeconomic status increases the risk of heart disease by a factor of up to
four times. The results of the effect of particulate air and sulphur dioxide
pollution among people in low social class especially African Americans. The
vicious cycle of heart disease and low socioeconomic status call for societal
and policy makers’ attention through methodical interventions to address the
two significant issues of industrial facilities site allocation and stationary
emission resources.