On April 27-28, 2022, the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) hosted a workshop to examine the effects of chemical and non-chemical stressors on maternal and fetal adverse health outcomes, discuss diseases specific to women and individuals assigned female at birth, and to assess the role of racial and ethnic disparities in environmental exposures. The concepts of early and lifetime exposures and the correlation between socioeconomic status, hazardous exposures, and communities of color were explored with a focus on the synergistic impacts on women’s health. Current research and knowledge gaps in the context of environmental exposures and women’s reproductive health disparities were examined. This Research Topic reflects the work presented at the NIEHS 2-day workshop or work suggesting critical ways to advance environmental health disparities and women’s reproductive health research, or environmental health equity in public health and clinical practice.
Chemical and social factors are driving women’s reproductive health disparities, often through complex, intersecting systems that impact and marginalize many racial and ethnic populations at various stages across the life course. Limited educational and employment opportunities can lead to reduced residential options and residential characteristics – in addition to systemic barriers (i.e., redlining) - that force People of Color to reside in older dwellings that may be established sources of select reproductive toxicants. Furthermore, disproportionate environmental exposures and non-chemical stressors (i.e., racism and gender discrimination) may increase the risk of adverse reproductive health; especially in cases where lack of access to quality obstetric and gynecologic, mental, and overall health care is an issue.
Compounding chemical and social factors challenge progress toward achieving equity and justice in the context of environmental exposures and women’s reproductive health. As we work toward achieving justice in women’s reproductive health, the work covered in this Research Topic should highlight:
• Models to create equal access to resources and opportunities to improve health equity.
• Research that focuses on the differential effects of environmental exposures in the context of the built environment and placed-based factors
• Research that demonstrates a shift to translational environmental epidemiologic research frameworks; transdisciplinary community-driven, comprehensive research that leads to action and informs policy.
• Research that is designed to look more at upstream factors to identify why these disparate exposures and disproportionate adverse reproductive outcomes exist.
• The development and/or discussion of novel measures or demonstration of utilizing existing measures that other disciplines have used to assess structural and environmental racism.
• Inclusive of qualitative and mixed method approaches to achieve equity in reproductive health.
• Translational models to understand the complexities and role of environmental chemical and nonchemical stressors in women’s reproductive health disparities.
To be eligible, the paper must be relevant unpublished work centered around the effects of chemical and nonchemical stressors on women’s reproductive health conditions and adverse maternal and fetal health outcomes in the context of racial and ethnic disparities. Specifically, research addressing the intersection of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors, environmental impacts, and reproductive health, including outcomes relevant to all individuals assigned female at birth. Largely, research focusing on environmental racism, environmental justice (EJ), and environmental health disparities (EHD) in the context of reproductive health to all individuals assigned female at birth is within the scope of this special collection. Also, any proposed translational models for studying the complexities of environmental impacts on disparities in women’s reproductive health are welcome.
We acknowledge the funding of the manuscripts published in this Research Topic by the National Institue of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). We hereby state publicly that NIEHS has had no editorial input in articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of NIEHS.
