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Proximity of US schools to major roadways: a nationwide assessment.

ABSTRACT: Long-term exposure to traffic pollution has been associated with adverse health outcomes in children and adolescents. A significant number of schools may be located near major roadways, potentially exposing millions of children to high levels of traffic pollution, but this hypothesis has not been evaluated nationally. We obtained data on the location and characteristics of 114,644 US public and private schools, grades prekindergarten through 12, and calculated their distance to the nearest major roadway. In 2005-2006, 3.2 million students (6.2%) attended 8,424 schools (7.3%) located within 100?m of a major roadway, and an additional 3.2 million (6.3%) students attended 8,555 (7.5%) schools located 100-250?m from a major roadway. Schools serving predominantly Black students were 18% (95% CI, 13-23%) more likely to be located within 250?m of a major roadway. Public schools eligible for Title I programs and those with a majority of students eligible for free/reduced price meals were also more likely to be near major roadways. In conclusion, 6.4 million US children attended schools within 250?m of a major roadway and were likely exposed to high levels of traffic pollution. Minority and underprivileged children were disproportionately affected, although some results varied regionally.

SUBMITTER: Kingsley SL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4179205 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Proximity of US schools to major roadways: a nationwide assessment.

Kingsley Samantha L SL Eliot Melissa N MN Carlson Lynn L Finn Jennifer J MacIntosh David L DL Suh Helen H HH Wellenius Gregory A GA

Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology 20140205 3

Long-term exposure to traffic pollution has been associated with adverse health outcomes in children and adolescents. A significant number of schools may be located near major roadways, potentially exposing millions of children to high levels of traffic pollution, but this hypothesis has not been evaluated nationally. We obtained data on the location and characteristics of 114,644 US public and private schools, grades prekindergarten through 12, and calculated their distance to the nearest major ...[more]

PMID: 24496217

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Project description:Background and purposeThe evidence supporting the deleterious cardiovascular health effects of living near a major roadway is growing, although this association is not universal. In primary analyses, we hypothesized that residential proximity to a major roadway would be associated with incident ischemic stroke and that cardiovascular risk factors would modify that association.MethodsNOMAS (The Northern Manhattan Study) is an ongoing, population-based cohort study designed to measure cardiovascular risk factors, stroke incidence, and other outcomes in a multiethnic urban population. Recruitment occurred from 1993 to 2001 and participants are followed-up annually by telephone. Residential addresses at baseline were geocoded and Euclidean distance to nearest major roadway was estimated and categorized as in prior studies. We used Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the association of this distance to incidence of stroke and other outcomes, adjusting for sociodemographic and cardiovascular risk factors, year at baseline, and neighborhood socioeconomic status. We assessed whether these associations varied by age, sex, smoking status, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension.ResultsDuring a median follow-up period of 15 years (n=3287), 11% of participants were diagnosed with ischemic stroke. Participants living <100 m from a roadway had a 42% (95% confidence interval, 1.01-2.02) higher rate of ischemic stroke versus those living >400 m away. This association was more pronounced among noncurrent smokers (hazard ratio, 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-2.26) and not evident among smokers (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-2.06). There was no clear pattern of association between proximity to major roadways and other cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction, all-cause death, or vascular death.ConclusionsIn this urban multiethnic cohort, we found evidence supporting that within-city variation in residential proximity to major roadway is associated with higher risk of ischemic stroke. An individual's smoking history modified this association, with the association remaining only among participants not currently smokers.

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Proximity of US schools to major roadways: a nationwide assessment.

Publications

Proximity of US schools to major roadways: a nationwide assessment.

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