The Racial Gap in Childhood Blood Lead Levels Related to Socioeconomic Position of Residence in Metropolitan Detroit

Abstract

Childhood lead poisoning in the United States remains a persistent, prevalent environmental public health problem, especially for children living in central-city neighborhoods. These neighborhoods typically are racially segregated, are in proximity to current and/or legacy lead emission sources, consist of older housing, and contain disproportionately African American or black children of low-income families. This research had two aims: (1) to determine whether average blood lead levels (BLLs) in children in the Detroit metropolitan area are related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhoods where they live and (2) to determine the estimated effect residential differences in the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods have on average BLLs in non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white children. Data on pediatric BLLs were obtained from the Michigan Department of Community Health, and racial and socioeconomic data were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2006–2010). The modified Darden-Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index, multiple regression, and difference-of-means tests were used to determine the effect residential socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods have on average BLLs. Black segregated neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic characteristics were predictors of higher average BLLs in the children who lived there. When black and white children resided in neighborhoods of similar socioeconomic characteristics, the black-white gap in BLLs lessened. Significantly, after stratifying black and white children by age, living in the same neighborhoods of the lowest socioeconomic characteristics negated the black-white racial gap in BLLs entirely, but increasing levels of socioeconomic characteristics exacerbated the divide.

Environmental Inequality: The Social Causes and Consequences of Lead Exposure

“…Vivier et al (2011) andKrieger et al (2003) show that more than 30% of children in the poorest neighborhoods in Rhode Island had lead levels exceeding 10 µg/dL. Moody et al (2016) report that children living in predominantly black and low-income segregated neighborhoods in Detroit had the highest average blood lead levels in the city, although there was no gap between black and white children in the poorest neighborhoods (see also Kaplowitz et al 2010). Sampson & Winter (2016), in contrast, report that the racial disparity in blood lead in Chicago persisted even after adjusting their estimates for neighborhood-level education, poverty, and the age, vacancy, and dilapidation of neighborhood housing.…”

The Relationship of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Differences and Racial Residential Segregation to Childhood Blood Lead Levels in Metropolitan Detroit

“…22,43 Furthermore, due to a prior breach in patient confidentiality of children's BLLs at the address level, the State of Michigan's IRB policy prohibits a finer level of geography provided by the MDCH in order to maintain confidentiality of each case.…”

“…This phenomenon is explored in more detail below. Multiple regression and hierarchical linear modeling analyses of a variety of variants at both the individual level and census tract level resulted in colinearities and unacceptable residual patterns as described in more detail in Moody et al 22 No doubt, the CDC's policy of recording non-detectable values as a 1.0 μg/dL and the influence of a variety of variables at a larger census tract scale of geography are contributors.…”

“…20,[24][25][26][27] It is also associated with poverty. 22,[26][27][28][29][30] Neighborhoods with higher median household incomes and/or newer housing significantly protect children from elevated BLLs. 24,25,[27][28][29][30][31] Most recently, Moody et al 22 found that even in neighborhoods of the highest household incomes, black children were still significantly more at risk for lead poisoning than white children were in the Detroit Metropolitan Area (DMA).…”

Lead Emissions and Population Vulnerability in the Detroit (Michigan, USA) Metropolitan Area, 2006–2013: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis

“…Moreover, Smith [ 10 ] showed that the DMA’s poor and black neighborhoods were strong predictors for EPA’s Superfund site locations. Lastly, Moody et al [ 11 , 12 ] found that in the DMA, black segregated neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic characteristics were strong predictors of elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) in children residing in those areas.…”