The Susceptibility of Older Adults to Environmental Hazards
GE NER ATIO NS – Journal of the American Society on Aging
By Andrew M. Geller
The Susceptibility of Older Adults to Environmental Hazards
Linking exposure, processing of contaminants in the body, and effects for health promotion.
J
oan Flood represents nine communities in
Pittsburgh’s East End that have close to 20 percent of the city’s older population. At a
“public listening session on aging and the environment,” part of a series sponsored by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), Flood told the audience the following:
Seniors are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, smog, and ground level ozone, especially those with a history of heart or lung problems. These facts are particularly problematic given that Allegheny County is among the dirtiest 10 percent of all counties in the U.S. in terms of air quality and hazardous air pollutants, with one of the oldest populations in the country. U.S. EPA, 2003.
Flood was correct about the effects of air pollution on older adults. Older adults are vulnerable to the effects of environmental pollutants. What she did not say is that the demographics of Allegheny County will soon to be reflected in the rest of the country. By 2030, the 65-plus population in the United States will double to 70 million, 20 percent of Americans. In addition, the population of adults 85-plus is the most frail and the most rapidly increasing cohort, with a population of 4 million today increasing to 19 million by 2050. Most important, these increases are not a short-lived effect of the baby boomer generation, but are projected to be long-lasting features of American demographics.
10 | Winter 2009–2010 • Vol. 33 . No. 4
Even small effects on health have large public health and economic consequences when we consider the size of this population.
This rapid growth in the number of older
Americans has many implications for public health, including the need to
By Andrew M. Geller
The Susceptibility of Older Adults to Environmental Hazards
Linking exposure, processing of contaminants in the body, and effects for health promotion.
J
oan Flood represents nine communities in
Pittsburgh’s East End that have close to 20 percent of the city’s older population. At a
“public listening session on aging and the environment,” part of a series sponsored by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), Flood told the audience the following:
Seniors are particularly vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, smog, and ground level ozone, especially those with a history of heart or lung problems. These facts are particularly problematic given that Allegheny County is among the dirtiest 10 percent of all counties in the U.S. in terms of air quality and hazardous air pollutants, with one of the oldest populations in the country. U.S. EPA, 2003.
Flood was correct about the effects of air pollution on older adults. Older adults are vulnerable to the effects of environmental pollutants. What she did not say is that the demographics of Allegheny County will soon to be reflected in the rest of the country. By 2030, the 65-plus population in the United States will double to 70 million, 20 percent of Americans. In addition, the population of adults 85-plus is the most frail and the most rapidly increasing cohort, with a population of 4 million today increasing to 19 million by 2050. Most important, these increases are not a short-lived effect of the baby boomer generation, but are projected to be long-lasting features of American demographics.
10 | Winter 2009–2010 • Vol. 33 . No. 4
Even small effects on health have large public health and economic consequences when we consider the size of this population.
This rapid growth in the number of older
Americans has many implications for public health, including the need to
References: Bortz II, W. M. 2002. “A Conceptual Framework of Frailty: A Review.” Journals of Gerontology Brook, R. D., et al. 2004. “Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Butler, A., and Murray, M. 1997. Creason, J., et al. 2001. “Effects of Particulate Matter on the Heart Devlin, R., et al. 2003. “Elderly Humans Exposed to Concentrated Dominici, F., et al. 2006. “Fine Particulates Air Pollution and Fitzgerald, E. F., et al. 2008. Fuchs, V. R., and Franks, S. R. 2002. Geller, A. M. 2009. “Making the Needed Linkages and Economic Geller, A. M., and Zenick, H. 2005. Glass, T. A., et al. 2009. “Neighborhood Psychosocial Hazards and the Association of Cumulative Lead Gold, D., et al. 2005. “Air Pollution and ST-Segment Depression in Navas-Acien, A., et al. 2007. “Lead Exposure and Cardiovascular