Ambient Toxins Linked to Disabilities in Minority Schoolchildren

New findings on apparent outcomes disparities from ambient air respiratory toxins in US public schools show that more children of Latino, Hispanic, and Asian descent are disabled following noncancerous exposure to the toxins at schools with the highest potential exposure risk, according to an analysis that combined sociodemographic school data and respiratory hazard indexes (HIs) from the 2018 EPA Air Toxics Screening Assessment.1

For this analysis, each HI represented the sum of 42 air respiratory toxins, with higher HIs representing a greater risk of potential adverse health effects. The study from the Environmental Protection Agency encompassed data on 88,818 public schools in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia,2 and children aged 5 to 19 years.1

The authors of this research explain that the risk from inhaled air pollutants is already higher among children compared with adults,1 and their findings echo previous research on childhood disease rates from pollution exposure and disparate outcomes among different racial and ethnic groups.3-5 The schools in this investigation were from areas in census tracts that were above the 95th percentile and placed in 1 of 2 groups: group A, representing 95% of schools with an HI below 0.48, or group B, the top 5% of schools with an HI of at least 0.48.1

“An HI greater than 1 signifies an increased potential for adverse health effects,” the study authors wrote.1

Overall, 9 chemical classes were represented: pyrolysis products, aldehydes, solvents, nitrogen compounds, metals, pesticides, toxic gases and vapors, plastics and rubber, and “other.” Further, the total children enrolled exceeded 49 million, among whom were more than 3.8 million of a racial and ethnic minority with a disability, more than 7.5 million overall with a disability, and 25.9 million overall of a racial and ethnic minority.

This research encompassed 88,818 public schools and more than 49 million children, of whom 7.5 million had a disability. | Image Credit: © EKKAPON-stock.adobe.com

Hazard Index Comparison

Group B had a significantly greater proportion of children of a racial and ethnic minority compared with group A (0.7419 vs 0.5289; P < .0001), both overall and for 3 of the 6 groups included (American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, multiracial, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander) (all P < .0001):

• Asian: 0.0849 vs 0.0542 (Wald χ2, 83.73)
• Black: 0.1837 vs 0.1549 (Wald χ2, 25.04)
• Hispanic and Latino: 0.4338 vs 0.2743 (Wald χ2, 248.5)

Children of a White ethnicity represented 0.4711 of group A but 0.2581 of group B.

These data on racial and ethnic minority representation disparities carried over to the findings on children with a disability. Compared with group A, group B had significantly more children of Asian descent with a disability (0.0525 vs 0.0477; Wald χ2, 5.37; P = .0205) and of Hispanic and Latino descent with a disability (0.6077 vs 0.5021; Wald χ2, 157.50; P < .0001). For those of American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander ethnicities, group A had higher proportions of these children (all P < .0001):

• American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.0252 vs 0.0099
• Black: 0.3502 vs 0.2871
• Multiracial: 0.0769 vs 0.0418
• Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander: 0.0060 vs 0.0047

When looking at the proportion of children with disabilities to the total enrollment of children at the county level, this research shows that the lowest rate is in California and the highest is in Puerto Rico, at 12.0% vs 28.0%, and that a majority of counties in states from the Central US to the East Coast having the highest concentrations of counties with children with disabilities (0.161-0.260 and 0.261-0.360) compared with the Central US to the West Coast, which has more counties with the lowest concentration of children with disabilities (0.000-0.160). In addition, even though less than 1% of schools resided in a census tract with an HI above 1, a majority of these schools with the highest risk index were in just 3 states: California, Colorado, and Louisiana.

West Virginia has the lowest concentration of racial and ethnic minority children by county and Puerto Rico, the highest, at 9.9% vs 99.9%.

“Our results highlight the importance of evaluating the intersection of disability, race, and ethnicity for schoolchildren and their potential exposure risks to ambient air respiratory toxicants,” the authors wrote. “In our future work, we plan to incorporate a similar analysis using the upcoming 2020 AirToxScreen data at the census block level and examine additional sociodemographic variables (ie, poverty and urbanicity).”

References

1. Amter M, Morgan M, Schroeder J, et al. Geographic and sociodemographic disparities in estimated potential exposure risks of children to ambient air respiratory toxicants at US public schools. Presented at: Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting; December 8-12, 2024; Austin, TX.

2. EPA study finds that US public schools with the highest potential exposure risk to air toxics have higher proportions of disabled Latino, Hispanic, and Asian children. News release. EurekAlert. December 9, 2024. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1067400

3. Steinzor P. Air pollution linked to childhood asthma by early, middle childhood. AJMC®. March 4, 2025. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.ajmc.com/view/air-pollution-linked-to-childhood-asthma-by-early-middle-childhood

4. Steinzor P. Oil, gas flaring linked to premature deaths, asthma exacerbations among children. AJMC. March 15, 2024. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.ajmc.com/view/oil-gas-flaring-linked-to-premature-deaths-asthma-exacerbations-among-children

5. Steinzor P. Air pollution linked to asthma disparities in Austin neighborhoods. AJMC. March 22, 2024. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.ajmc.com/view/air-pollution-linked-to-asthma-disparities-in-austin-neighborhoods