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Environmental Justice and Health in Nigeria
AbstractPurpose of ReviewThe United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identified 17 goals to achieve by the year 2030, with many of these goals directly or indirectly linked to environmental justice. Health outcomes remain poor in Nigeria; the country ranks low in environmental quality despite supporting environmental treaties and laws. The burden of diseases in the country is in part related to poor environmental quality and is linked to environmental justice issues, such as mining, energy exploration, transport emission, poor waste management, and proliferation of slum settlement.Recent FindingsPrevious studie...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 23, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

The Environment and Headache: a Narrative Review
AbstractPurpose of ReviewIn this narrative review, we summarize the peer-reviewed literature published between 2017 and 2022 that evaluated ambient environmental risk factors for primary headache disorders, which affect more than half of the population globally. Primary headache disorders include migraine, tension-type headache (TTH), and trigeminal and autonomic cephalalgias (TAC).Recent findingsWe identified 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria via PubMed or Google Scholar. Seven studies (41%) relied on data from US populations. The remaining studies were conducted in China, Taiwan, Germany, Ghana, Japan, the Neth...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 20, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Reproductive and Social Policies, Sociopolitical Stress, and Implications for Maternal and Child Health Equity
AbstractPurpose of ReviewAlthough many environmental exposures (e.g., air pollution) are geographically patterned and persist as a result of historic economic policies (e.g., redlining), the impact of reproductive and social policies on maternal and child health remains incompletely understood. Reproductive and social policies are increasingly important for maternal and child health equity, particularly following the 2022 US Supreme Court decision inDobbs v Jackson Women ’s Health Organization ( “Dobbs decision”), which restricted access to abortion. Here, we summarize the literature from original research studies ex...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 19, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Correction: The Health-Related and Learning Performance Effects of Air Pollution and Other Urban-Related Environmental Factors on School-Age Children and Adolescents —A Scoping Review of Systematic Reviews
(Source: Current Environmental Health Reports)
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 17, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Health Disparities in the Aftermath of Flood Events: A Review of Physical and Mental Health Outcomes with Methodological Considerations in the USA
AbstractPurpose of ReviewThis review applies an environmental justice perspective to synthesize knowledge of flood-related health disparities across demographic groups in the USA. The primary aim is to examine differential impacts on physical and mental health outcomes while also assessing methodological considerations such as flood exposure metrics, baseline health metrics, and community engagement.Recent FindingsIn our review (n = 27), 65% and 72% of studies identified racial, ethnic, or socio-economic disparities in physical and mental health outcomes post-flooding, respectively. The majority of racial/ethnic dispar...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 12, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Addressing Health Equity in the Context of Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration Technologies
AbstractPurpose of ReviewTo describe the role of health equity in the context of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) technologies.Recent FindingsCCUS technologies have the potential to both improve and worsen health equity. They could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a major contributor to climate change, but they could also have negative health impacts like air and noise pollution. More research is needed to fully understand the health equity implications of CCUS technologies.SummaryCCUS technologies have both health equity risks and benefits. Implementing misguided CCUS projects in vulnerable commu...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 11, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Unpacking Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status in Children ’s Health Research from an Environmental Justice Perspective: A Scoping Review
AbstractPurpose of ReviewClearly defining and measuring neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES) is a key first step in achieving environmental justice, as the disproportionate distribution of environmental hazards and access to resources is heavily influenced by socioeconomic factors. This scoping review explores the definition of neighborhoods, measurement of neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES), and studies that evaluated the association between nSES and child health in accordance with PRISMA guidelines.Recent FindingsWe identified 4112 articles published on US pediatric populations between 2013 and 2022. We identif...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 10, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Epigenetic Responses to Nonchemical Stressors: Potential Molecular Links to Perinatal Health Outcomes
AbstractPurpose of ReviewWe summarize the recent literature investigating exposure to four nonchemical stressors (financial stress, racism, psychosocial stress, and trauma) and DNA methylation, miRNA expression, and mRNA expression. We also highlight the relationships between these epigenetic changes and six critical perinatal outcomes (preterm birth, low birth weight, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, childhood allergic disease, and childhood neurocognition).Recent FindingsMultiple studies have found financial stress, psychosocial stress, and trauma to be associated with DNA methylation and/or miRNA and mRNA expression....
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 6, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Existing Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing Drought and Health Research
AbstractPurpose of ReviewDrought is one of the most far-reaching natural disasters, yet drought and health research is sparse. This may be attributed to the challenge of quantifying drought exposure, something complicated by multiple drought indices without any designed for health research. The purpose of this general review is to evaluate current drought and health literature and highlight challenges or scientific considerations when performing drought exposure and health assessments.Recent FindingsThe literature revealed a small, but growing, number of drought and health studies primarily emphasizing Australian, western ...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - April 3, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Consideration on the Intergenerational Ethics on Uranium Waste Disposal
AbstractPurpose of ReviewThis review provides insights into resolving intergenerational issues related to the disposal of waste containing high amounts of uranium (uranium waste), from which distant future generations will have higher health risks than the current generation.Recent FindingsUranium (half-life: 4.5 billion years) produces various progeny radionuclides through radioactive decay over the long term, and its radioactivity, as the sum of its contributions, continues to increase for more than 100,000 years. In contrast to high-level radioactive wastes, protective measures, such as attenuation of radiation and conf...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - March 28, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Public Health Risks of PFAS-Related Immunotoxicity Are Real
AbstractPurpose of ReviewThe discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment and humans worldwide has ignited scientific research, government inquiry, and public concern over numerous adverse health effects associated with PFAS exposure. In this review, we discuss the use of PFAS immunotoxicity data in regulatory and clinical decision-making contexts and question whether recent efforts adequately account for PFAS immunotoxicity in public health decision-making.Recent FindingsGovernment and academic reviews confirm the strongest human evidence for PFAS immunotoxicity is reduced antibody production...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - March 25, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Opportunities and Challenges Associated with the Uptake of Residential Clean Fuel Usage
AbstractPurpose of ReviewAlmost 3 billion people worldwide use solid fuel for cooking and heating. This review examines (i) household energy practices and infrastructures and their influence on fuel usage in different contexts; (ii) barriers in adoption of household clean energy technologies and uses in diverse settings and population groups and (iii) potential air pollution exposure reduction in homes through using processed fuel.Recent FindingsPopulation health burden from solid fuel combustion-derived particulate air pollution has been estimated in several low- and middle-income countries. However, such studies have not...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - March 12, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Airborne Exposure to Pollutants and Mental Health: A Review with Implications for United States Veterans
AbstractPurpose of ReviewInhalation of airborne pollutants in the natural and built environment is ubiquitous; yet, exposures are different across a lifespan and unique to individuals. Here, we reviewed the connections between mental health outcomes from airborne pollutant exposures, the biological inflammatory mechanisms, and provide future directions for researchers and policy makers. The current state of knowledge is discussed on associations between mental health outcomes and Clean Air Act criteria pollutants, traffic-related air pollutants, pesticides, heavy metals, jet fuel, and burn pits.Recent FindingsAlthough asso...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - March 8, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

Methods for the Analysis of Multiple Epigenomic Mediators in Environmental Epidemiology
AbstractPurpose of ReviewEpigenetic changes can be highly influenced by environmental factors and have in turn been proposed to influence chronic disease. Being able to quantify to which extent epigenomic processes are mediators of the association between environmental exposures and diseases is of interest for epidemiologic research. In this review, we summarize the proposed mediation analysis methods with applications to epigenomic data.Recent FindingsThe ultra-high dimensionality and high correlations that characterize omics data have hindered the precise quantification of mediated effects. Several methods have been prop...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - February 22, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research

The Association Between Personal Air Pollution Exposures and Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO): A Systematic Review
AbstractPurpose of ReviewAirway inflammation is a common biological response to many types of environmental exposures and can lead to increased nitric oxide (NO) concentrations in exhaled breath. In recent years, several studies have evaluated airway inflammation using fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) as a biomarker of exposures to a range of air pollutants. This systematic review aims to summarize the studies that collected personal-level air pollution data to assess the air pollution –induced FeNO responses and to determine if utilizing personal-level data resulted in an improved characterization of the relations...
Source: Current Environmental Health Reports - February 22, 2024 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research