Social Inequalities in Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution: A Systematic Review in the WHO European Region

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 16; no. 17; p. 3127
• Main Authors: Fairburn, Jonathan, Schüle, Steffen Andreas, Dreger, Stefanie, Karla Hilz, Lisa, Bolte, Gabriele
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.08.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Air Pollution; Air quality; Air quality standards; Airborne particulates; Ecological monitoring; Environmental Exposure; Environmental factors; Environmental health; Environmental risk; Ethnic Groups; Europe; Female; Health disparities; Humans; Indoor air pollution; Minority Groups; Nitrogen oxides; Outdoor air quality; Oxides; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Photochemicals; Pregnancy; Public Health; Review; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Studies; Europe; United Kingdom > UK; Scotland; economic position; inequalities; environmental inequalities; Europe; deprivation; inequities; distribution; equity; preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA); air quality; environmental justice
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16173127

Ambient air pollution is a long-standing and significant public health issue. The aim of this review is to systematically examine the peer-reviewed evidence on social inequalities and ambient air pollution in the World Health Organization European Region. Articles published between 2010 and 2017 were analyzed in the review. In total 31 articles were included in the review. There is good evidence from ecological studies that higher deprivation indices and low economic position are usually linked with higher levels of pollutants such as particulate matter (particulate matter under 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, PM , PM ) and oxides of nitrogen (e.g., NO , and NO ). There is also evidence that ethnic minorities experience a mixed exposure in comparison to the majority population being sometimes higher and sometimes lower depending on the ethnic minority under consideration. The studies using data at the individual level in this review are mainly focused on pregnant women or new mothers, in these studies deprivation and ethnicity are more likely to be linked to higher exposures of poor air quality. Therefore, there is evidence in this review that the burden of higher pollutants falls disproportionally on different social groups.