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. 2022 Jul;130(7):77701.
doi: 10.1289/EHP11048. Epub 2022 Jul 6.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Nationwide PM2.5 Concentrations: Perils of Assuming a Linear Relationship

Misbath Daouda  1 , Lucas Henneman  2 , Jeff Goldsmith  3 , Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou  1 , Joan A Casey  1
Affiliations

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Nationwide PM2.5 Concentrations: Perils of Assuming a Linear Relationship

Misbath Daouda et al. Environ Health Perspect. 2022 Jul.
No abstract available

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Figures

Figures 1A and 1B both show an association curve and a histogram, plotting difference in tract fine particulate matter (micrograms per meter cubed), ranging from negative 1 to 1 in unit increments (left y-axis) and count of census tracts, ranging from 0 to 15,000 in increments of 5,000 and 0 to 4,000 in increments of 1,000, respectively, (right y-axis) across percentage of Black and White, ranging from 0 to 100 in increments of 25 (x-axis).
Figure 1.
Difference in 2010 U.S. Census tract-level PM2.5 (n=58,030) associated with increases in racial/ethnic group percentage [(A) Black; (B) White] relative to the mean percentage of that racial/ethnic group. This change was modeled linearly (dashed lines) and nonlinearly with cubic natural splines (solid lines). Models were adjusted for tract-level poverty (defined as percentage of individuals with income below the U.S. Census Bureau poverty threshold) and for population density (defined as number of people per kilometer squared). Both models included state-specific fixed effects and nonlinear models additionally included a CBSA-specific random intercept. The gray bars represent the distribution of percentage Black and White in urban U.S. Census tracts. Urban census tracts with <16% non-Hispanic Black residents make up 75% of urban census tracts. For non-Hispanic Black residents, in nonlinear models, moving from 0% to 10% and from 10% to 20% was respectively associated with a 1.11 (95% CI: 1.09, 1.14)-μg/m3 and a 0.008 (95% CI: 0.006, 0.010)-μg/m3 higher ambient PM2.5 concentration. The linear point estimate for a 10%-point increase in percentage Black was 0.09 (95% CI: 0.09, 0.10) μg/m3. For non-Hispanic White residents, in nonlinear models, moving from 70% to 80% and from 80% to 90% was associated with ambient PM2.5 concentrations that were respectively 0.23 (95% CI: −0.23, −0.22)-μg/m3 and 0.47 (95% CI: −0.47, −0.46)-μg/m3 lower. The linear point estimate for a 10%-point increase in percentage White was −0.17 (95% CI: −0.17, −0.16). Note: CI, confidence interval.
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