Douglas Houston ^1*, Paul Ong ¹, Jun Wu ¹, Arthur Winer ¹

¹ UCLA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dhouston{at}ucla.edu.

	Abstract

Objectives. We assessed child care facilities' proximity to heavily traveled roadways in an attempt to estimate the extent of potential exposure of young children to vehicle-related pollution in this understudied microenvironment.

Methods. We examined approximately 24 000 licensed child care facilities in California located within 200 m of heavily traveled roadways.

Results. Approximately 57000 of the available slots in California child care centers (7% of the overall capacity) are in facilities located within 200 m (650 ft) of roadways averaging 50000 or more vehicles per day, and another 172000 (21%) are in facilities located within 200 m of roadways averaging 25 000 to 49 000 vehicles per day. Facilities providing care to infants or preschool-aged children and facilities located in disadvantaged areas were more often situated in medium or high-traffic areas.

Conclusions. Additional research is needed to further clarify the significance of the child care microenvironment in terms of potential childhood exposures to vehicle-related pollutants, and design strategies, notification standards, and distance-based siting restrictions should be considered in the facility licensing process and in land use and transportation planning.

Key Words: Child and Adolescent Health, Community Health, Environment, Geography, Socioeconomic Factors, Urban Health

eLetters: