Recorded presentation

Gilbert C. Gee, PhD, Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Rm M5224, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, (734) 615-7825, gilgee@umich.edu and Devon Payne-Sturges, DrPH, Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, U.S. EPA, Ariel Rios Bldg. MC1809T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460.

Health tracking is a scientific movement towards improving the quality and comprehensiveness of measures of health processes and progress. One application of health tracking is to reduce disparities in health, as minority and economically disadvantaged populations appear to bear a disproportionate share of the health risks related to environmental hazards. The purpose of this presentation is to review linkages between environmental burden and health disparities. We discuss how environmental health tracking should attend to the social processes that shape communities as well as the traditional measures of environmental factors known to impact health. These social processes include neighborhood deprivation (e.g. poverty and income inequality), relational resources (e.g. social cohesion), and social inequality (e.g. residential segregation) and community stressors (e.g. violence). The environmental factors include ambient air pollution, indoor air quality, drinking and ambient water quality, pesticides, hazardous waste and land contaminants and body burden measurements. We review several of these factors from a multi-level perspective and provide suggestions for the refinement and conceptualization of health indicators relevant to health disparities.

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