Environmental Inequality in Estimated Cancer Risk from Airborne Toxic Exposure across United States Communities from 2011 to 2019

US Census Bureau data were matched to U.S. Environmental
Protection
Agency estimated cancer risks from airborne toxics from 2011 to 2019
to explore environmental inequality with nationwide census tract resolution.
Spearman correlations showed modest associations between various socioeconomic
status factors and estimated cancer risk. Multiple linear regression
analyses show positive associations with increased estimated cancer
risk (p < 0.05) for high proportions of Blacks
in suburban and rural areas. A positive relationship with estimated
cancer risk was found for increasing proportions of Asians and Hispanics
in nonurban areas. Urban tracts that suffer from the highest estimated
cancer risks were concentrated among the communities with a population
of higher proportion of minorities. While environmental inequality
seems to have improved across the examined years for certain demographics
with respect to estimated cancer risk from air toxics, equity is far
from achieved, and future work in identifying the sources of environmental
inequality could help in achieving a more just environment.