Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112191

Francesca M. Lopez, MSPH¹, John E. Vena, PhD¹, J. Wanzer Drane, PhD¹, and Dwight Underhill². (1) Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, 800 Sumter St., Columbia, SC 29208, 706-210-1162, marielopez514@hotmail.com, (2) Environmental Health Sciences, University of South Carolina, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208

Arkwright and Forest Park are predominately African-American communities in Spartanburg, South Carolina. They've suffered disproportionate environmental burdens from hazardous waste and polluting facilities that have released chemicals such as lead, dioxins, arsenic, etc. A municipal dump and an abandoned fertilizer plant were deemed Superfund sites. No epidemiologic studies on health impacts have been previously conducted. Objectives were to determine; 1) Whether children in Arkwright and Forest Park communities experienced higher rates of developmental disorders and lead poisoning than children in the rest of the County. 2) Existence of spatial relationships between developmental disorders and the fertilizer plant. Combined Medicaid data sets were used containing children screened for lead blood levels (n=9692) and persons diagnosed with developmental disorders (n=6,620), January 1, 1990 through December 31, 2002. Logistic Regression on lead poisoning and developmental disorders was used in analysis. Chi-square statistics evaluated the spatial relationship between the fertilizer plant and developmental disorders. Language delay was 40% (p= 0.006) higher in those living within two miles from the plant. After covariate adjustment, living within two-miles of the fertilizer plant increased risk of diagnoses with a developmental disorder by 25%. Lead poisoned Children had a 2-fold odds of being diagnosed with developmental disorders. The likelihood of developmental disorder was 20% higher in African-Americans than Whites. Findings suggest that living in this two mile radius is a risk factor for adverse health outcomes. These results are strong enough to warrant additional investigation on health impacts of chemical exposures in the Arkwright and Forest Park communities.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine demographic characteristics of the population screened for blood lead levels
• Determine whether odds of lead poisoning differ between population at risk (w/i 2 miles of point source) and general population
• Determine the demographic characteristics of the population diagnosed with a developmental disorder
• Determine relative risk of developmental disorder in the population at risk (w/i 2 miles of point source) as compared to general population
• Determine whether a spatial relationship exists between the point source and diagnosis of developmental disorder
• Determine prevalence of lead poisoning in study population
• Determine prevalence of developmental disorder in study population

Keywords: Environmental Justice, Lead

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation