A weekly roundup of public health news
People who live near animal feed lots breathe dirtier air
Communities that are close to U.S. animal feeding operations are more likely to have unhealthy pollutants in their air, a new study finds.
Researchers examined air quality levels in areas surrounding the nation’s 15,000 cattle and hog feeding operations, linking fine-particle air pollution known as PM2.5 to the industries.
Airborne PM2.5 levels were 28% higher near cattle feeding operations and 11% higher near hog feeding operations compared with similar counties without such facilities, according to the study in Communications Earth & Environment. Animal feeding operations are home to large quantities of manure, contributing to airborne dust and particle pollution.
Exposure to PM2.5 is linked to numerous health conditions, including asthma, bronchitis and cardiovascular disease.
Communities near animal feeding operations are more likely to have lower levels of health insurance coverage and education as well as higher proportions of Hispanic residents, the study also found. Researchers estimated that nearly 1.4 million people without health insurance, including migrant laborers, lived within 10 miles of the operations.
A quarter of the nation’s cattle and hog feeding operations are located in just 30 U.S. counties, covering a combined 266,534 hectares — which the study said was equivalent to nearly 500,000 football fields.
Cattle operations in the beef and dairy industry — which are concentrated in California, Iowa, Idaho, Nebraska, Texas and Wisconsin — account for about 80% of the total acreage. Hog farms are clustered mainly in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina and Oklahoma. The top three states by number of total animal feeding operations are California, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Researchers combed satellite images from across the U.S. to reach their count of feeding operations, coming up with a total that was 50% higher than reflected in government data.
Women in states with stricter abortion laws turning to telemedicine
Telemedicine is helping women access abortion services, even in states with bans on out-of-state consultations, new research reports.
Published Aug. 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study found people living in states with near-total abortion bans and those who are far from clinics are most likely to use telemedicine for abortion medications.
Researchers looked at state-by-state data on abortion medications provided through a nonprofit telemedicine service in 2023-2024. In states with near-total abortion bans, the drugs were provided at a rate of 41 per 100,000 population of reproductive-age women. In states where abortion laws were less restrictive, the rate was 6 per 100,000. People who lived in poor areas and resided more than 250 miles from a clinic also had a higher likelihood of receiving abortion medications.
Researchers credited the access to shield laws, which allow U.S.-licensed clinicians to provide medications while being protected from legal liability. Twenty-two states have laws that protect health care professionals from being prosecuted for providing reproductive health care, though only eight —California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — protect providers regardless of patient location.
Some states have bans on live telemedicine consults with out-of-state providers, so the service examined in the study used asynchronous communication. That allows patients and health care providers to communicate via text or other secure messaging services. Eligible patients were provided mifepristone and misoprostol, along with instructions on using the abortion drugs and remote support.
Doctors more likely to doubt Black patients, notes show
Physicians are more likely to have doubt or disbelief when listening to health concerns of Black patients, according to an analysis of more than 13 million medical records.
The study, published in PLOS One, found medical record notes on Black patients were more likely to have language that cast doubt on their sincerity or credibility — such as “claims,” “insists,” or “is adamant about” — than notes for white patients. White patients were also more likely to have language in their records that supported their credibility.
Previous research has found Black patients disproportionately feel disbelieved and dismissed during medical encounters.
Despite the disparity, physicians seemed to trust most of their patients overall. Fewer than 1% of the medical notes, which were collected from visits that occurred from 2016-2023 via a mid-Atlantic health system, contained language that cast doubt on patient credibility. Most of those notes were made during visits to internal medicine or surgery departments and were primarily written by attending physicians.
Other recent public health news of note includes:
• Women who live in counties with lower cervical cancer screening rates have double the risk of being diagnosed with the disease, particularly in the later stages, new research in JAMA Network Open finds. Texas had the most counties with low screening rates over time, followed by Idaho and New Mexico.
• Almost a third of the world’s global carbon emissions come from an unexpected source: construction materials. Extraction, production and transportation of materials such as cement, metals and plastic produce substantial greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study in Resources, Conservation & Recycling.
• A new study in Frontiers in Public Health says older adults who continue to reside in communities after a hurricane hits have higher death rates, even years later. Researchers found a 9% higher risk of death among seniors in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut up to five years after Hurricane Sandy devastated the region in 2012.
• The drinking water people give to their dogs is often high in metals, particularly in households that use private wells, according to new findings in PLOS Water. Nearly 65% of samples from wells used for canine drinking water contained excessive levels of a toxic metal, such as lead or arsenic. Because of their smaller size, dogs can be sickened by water contamination before humans, serving as a sentinel for problems, researchers said.
• A recent study in Environment and Health says having nanoplastics in the body may speed up Alzheimer’s progression in people with the disease. High levels of plastic in the brain can cause the disease to spread more rapidly to other key organs such as the liver, heart and gut, the research in mice found.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.