University at Buffalo researchers looked at 17 cities across New York State where longstanding federal housing policies once denied neighborhoods with people of color from receiving mortgages. Although this practice was outlawed in 1968, the researchers found that elevated levels of air pollutants in these neighborhoods of the state are disproportionately linked to increased emergency room (ER) visits for mental disorders.
“There was a significant association between air pollutant exposure and ER visits throughout these cities’ various neighborhoods, but it was most pronounced in their redlined communities, negatively impacting the vulnerable population that still lives there,” says Eun-Hye Enki Yoo, PhD, associate professor of geography in the UB College of Arts and Sciences.
Yoo is the lead author of the study, which will be featured in the Oct. 20 issue of Science of the Total Environment.