Environmental Hazards and Population Health across the Rural-Urban Continuum

Background: Exposure to a large and growing set of environmental pollutants creates significant health problems for our population. Rural populations are potentially exposed to a variety of serious environmental risks from point and non-point pollution sources including industrial facilities, animal containment facilities, mining operations, logging activities, agricultural activities, petroleum refineries, incinerators, landfills, sewage treatment facilities, and transportation routes. A comprehensive assessment of rural environmental pollution sources and impacts in relation to health and health care has not yet been undertaken.

Methods: This study gathers together a set of existing databases to create an inventory of potential environmental hazards and corresponding health outcomes, with particular attention to hazards present along the continuum of rural-urban settings. Data are drawn from multiple sources including the Environmental Protection Agency, US Geological Survey, Energy Information Administration, US Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Area Resource File, US Census, Heath Care Utilization Project, and other sources. Population health outcomes such as CDC mortality statistics are examined using spatial and quantitative correlational analyses to determine if poor health outcomes are related to greater exposures to potential hazards.

Results and Discussion: This study is supported by a cooperative agreement between HRSA and the West Virginia Rural Health Research Center; data collection is currently underway and data analysis will begin during Spring, 2009. The final products will include the national inventory made available on the Research Center website for use in follow-up studies, quantitative models and spatial maps linking environmental hazards to population health parameters.