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Understanding Effects on Asthma of Pollution Sources in Neighborhoods, with Sarah Chambliss, PhD
Chambliss also discussed other research she is working on looking to understand effects on children with asthma.
New research into pollution sources and asthma complications has found that semiconductor fabrication plants (SFPs) are located disproportionately in census tracts with higher indicators of social vulnerability and a greater proportion of Black and Latinx residents and, slightly increasing population-based incidence of asthma-related emergency department visits.
These findings were presented by Sarah Chambliss, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at University of Texas at Austin, at the 2025 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting in San Diego from February 28 – March 3.
The investigators found that there was around a 1% increase in asthma-related emergency department visits per unit of distance from the SFPS after adjusting for other socioeconomic factors, which, while small, adds up over time and with close proximity.
“Honestly, if people know that their kids are at higher risk of having worse asthma, and they just make a big deal out of it, they can prevent these factories from going into their neighborhoods, like that's why these factories don't exist in neighborhoods with more resources, because people complain about it. So, it's really as long as you have the advocacy, you can [do something about it],” Chambliss said.
HCPLive spoke with Chambliss to learn more about her research and other efforts she is engaged in to try and address issues with pollution sources in neighborhoods. She also stressed the importance of advocacy for these neighborhoods and discussed other research she is conducting to better understand the effects of pollution sources on children with asthma.
“We can get much more specific with the effects of air pollution on asthma morbidity like asthma exacerbations or symptom days, if we look at individuals instead of populations. So I'm currently working with a couple of groups that have cohorts of children, where they've measured, in some cases, their symptom load and their asthma control levels, and then in other cases, they've looked at them over time, and they've looked at their lung function growth. With both of those cohorts, we'll be able to really tease out these social factors much better from air pollution, because we'll know specifically what these each person is experiencing,” Chambliss said.
Chambliss's research is supported by an NIH grant.
