The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #49395

Rana Charafeddine, Department of Environmental Health, Boston University, 6 Carlisle Street, Apt 1, Cambridge, MA 02139, 617 4914412, ranas@bu.edu

There is a fierce debate in the health literature about the relationship among health predictors, and how these predictors contribute to health status. For example, the issue of access to health care versus socioeconomic status (SES) is very contentious. Also, the causal relationship between health care and health outcome on one hand and the relationship between SES and health outcomes on the other is widely argued. In this context, the purpose of this study is to expand this debate by examining the relationship between health care, environmental health and health status.

Specifically, this study explores the relationship between access to health care, air pollution and self reported health status. In addition, it looks at the contribution of access to clean air and access to health care on self-reported health status. Using the Environmental Protection Agency’ s Air Toxics Inventory of 1996, ecological measures of air toxics are assessed at the county level. This dataset is merged with the 1997 Community Tracking Study household survey, which provides individual information about self-rated health status, access to health care and SES variables such as race, income, education, poverty level, and employment type.

Finally, the objective of this research is not to deepen the false duality between socioeconomic and biomedical models by relocating it to the realm of environmental and biomedical areas, but to incorporate these two models into one comprehensive model to enlighten the priority setting process.

Learning Objectives:

• 1-Propose a theoretical model relating health status to access to clean physical environment and access to health care.
• 2-Assess whether access to health care or access to cleaner air contributes more toward a better self-reported health status.
• 3-Add an environmental perspective to the debate about health predictors by studying access to health care versus access to clean environment rather than the standard debate about access to health care versus socioeconomic status.

Keywords: Access, Environmental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.