Environmental and occupational health on the Navajo Nation: a scoping review

Sharly Coombs; Darrah K. Sleeth; Rachael M. Jones

doi:10.1515/reveh-2021-0118

Article

Environmental and occupational health on the Navajo Nation: a scoping review

Sharly Coombs , Darrah K. Sleeth and Rachael M. Jones

Published/Copyright: December 30, 2021

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From the journal Reviews on Environmental Health Volume 37 Issue 2

Abstract

A scoping review was performed to answer: what environmental health concerns have been associated with adverse health outcomes in the Navajo Nation? The review focused on occupational and ambient environmental exposures associated with human industrial activities. The search strategy was implemented in PubMed, and two investigators screened the retrieved literature. Thirteen studies were included for review. Data were extracted using the matrix method. Six studies described associations between work in uranium mining and cancer. Six studies focused on environmental exposures to uranium mine waste and other metals, with outcomes that included biological markers, kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension, and adverse birth outcomes. One study explored occupational exposure to Sin Nombre Virus and infection. Most research has focused on the health effects of uranium, where occupational exposures occurred among miners and environmental exposures are a legacy of uranium mining and milling. Gaps exist with respect to health outcomes associated with current occupations and the psychosocial impact of environmental hazards. Other environmental exposures and hazards are known to exist on the Navajo Nation, which may warrant epidemiologic research.

Keywords: environmental health; health disparity; indigenous peoples; occupational health; uranium

Corresponding author: Rachael M. Jones, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA, E-mail: rachael.jones@utah.edu

Funding source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Award Identifier / Grant number: T42/OH008414

Research funding: SC was supported by the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. CDC/NIOSH T42/OH008414.
Author contributions: SC and RMJ conceived of the study, performed the literature search, review and extraction. SC, RMJ and DS wrote and edited the manuscript. All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: Authors sate no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Not applicable.
Ethical approval: The conducted research is not related to either human or animal use.

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Received: 2021-09-06

Accepted: 2021-12-14

Published Online: 2021-12-30

Published in Print: 2022-06-27

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2021-0118

Keywords for this article

environmental health; health disparity; indigenous peoples; occupational health; uranium