COEH Director and Faculty featured in UPI Article on Asthma Rates in 'Redlined' Neighborhoods

February 18, 2020

'Redlined' neighborhoods have higher rates of asthma than others.

The discriminatory practice of "redlining" neighborhoods may be history, but its legacy of denying publicly funded projects to some areas includes health effects that linger today, a new study suggests.

In an analysis published Monday in the The Lancet Planetary Health, researchers report that current rates of asthma-related emergency room visits are more than twice as high in areas that were once redlined -- or categorized as high risk for investment as part of government-sponsored programs. Continue Reading Original Article on UPI.com/Health-News

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Dr. John R. Balmes is a Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley and a Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UCSF. He is also the director of the Northern California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. Dr. Balmes' research is focused on the respiratory, cardiovascular and metabolic health effects of various air pollutants and occupational agents.

For more of his research, see Dr. Balmes' Faculty Profile

Publication Information

Associations between historical residential redlining and current age-adjusted rates of emergency department visits due to asthma across eight cities in California: an ecological study

Author(s): Anthony Nardone, Joan A Casey, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Mahasin Mujahid, John R Balmes, Neeta Thakur

Publication: The Lancet Planetary Health

Publisher: Elsevier

Date: January 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30241-4