摘要：Background:
Few studies have investigated air pollution exposure disparities by race/ethnicity and income across criteria air pollutants, locations, or time.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to quantify exposure disparities by race/ethnicity and income throughout the contiguous United States for six criteria air pollutants, during the period 1990 to 2010.
Methods:
We quantified exposure disparities among racial/ethnic groups (non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic (any race), non-Hispanic Asian) and by income for multiple spatial units (contiguous United States, states, urban vs. rural areas) and years (1990, 2000, 2010) for carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (
NO
2
), ozone (
O
3
), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter
≤
2.5
μ
m
(
PM
2.5
; excluding year-1990), particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter
≤
10
μ
m
(
PM
10
), and sulfur dioxide (
SO
2
). We used census data for demographic information and a national empirical model for ambient air pollution levels.
Results:
For all years and pollutants, the racial/ethnic group with the highest national average exposure was a racial/ethnic minority group. In 2010, the disparity between the racial/ethnic group with the highest vs. lowest national-average exposure was largest for
NO
2
[54% (
4.6
ppb
)
