Assessing the Effects on Health Inequalities of Differential Exposure and Differential Susceptibility of Air Pollution and Environmental Noise in Barcelona, 2007–2014

Marc Saez and Guillem López-Casasnovas
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Marc Saez: Research Group on Statistics, Econometrics and Health (GRECS), University of Girona, 17003 Girona, Spain
Guillem López-Casasnovas: Center for Research in Health and Economics (CRES), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08005 Barcelona, Spain

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-23

Abstract: The hypotheses we intended to contrast were, first, that the most deprived neighborhoods in Barcelona, Spain, present high exposure to environmental hazards (differential exposure) and, secondly, that the health effects of this greater exposure were higher in the most deprived neighborhoods (differential susceptibility). The population studied corresponded to the individuals residing in the neighborhoods of Barcelona in the period 2007–2014. We specified the association between the relative risk of death and environmental hazards and socioeconomic indicators by means of spatio-temporal ecological regressions, formulated as a generalized linear mixed model with Poisson responses. There was a differential exposure (higher in more deprived neighborhoods) in almost all the air pollutants considered, when taken individually. The exposure was higher in the most affluent in the cases of environmental noise. Nevertheless, for both men and women, the risk of dying due to environmental hazards in a very affluent neighborhood is about 30% lower than in a very depressed neighborhood. The effect of environmental hazards was more harmful to the residents of Barcelona’s most deprived neighborhoods. This increased susceptibility cannot be attributed to a single problem but rather to a set of environmental hazards that, overall, a neighborhood may present.

Keywords: exposure differential; susceptibility differential; ecological regression; spatial misalignment; spatio-temporal adjustment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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