Louisiana Environmental Public Health Tracking

What We Track

Health Effects

It is challenging to establish the connections between how an illness may be related to environmental hazards or exposures. Some adverse health effects, like carbon monoxide poisoning, can have quick short-term harmful results as a result of exposure. Other adverse health outcomes, like certain cancers, may take years or even decades to develop as a result of exposure. The LDH Tracking Program puts health and environmental data together to assist in identifying and exploring the connections. The LDH Tracking Program includes the following health data:

Adult Obesity

Weight that is higher than what is considered a healthy weight for a given height is described by health practitioners as overweight or obese. Nearly one out of four adults in Louisiana is considered obese, and Louisiana currently ranks among the top states in the United States for both adult and childhood obesity.

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Asthma

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes the airways that carry air into and out of the lungs to become irritated and swollen, which causes less air to flow into the lungs. Symptoms of asthma include reoccurring episodes of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing.

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Birth Defects

Birth defects are conditions that are present at birth. They cause structural changes in one or more parts of the body and may have serious adverse effects on health, development, or functional ability.  

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Birth Outcomes

Reproductive and birth outcome information collected and tracked by the LDH Tracking Program includes low birth weight, prematurity, mortality, fertility, and male-to-female sex ratio.

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Cancer

Cancer is a general term for a disease in which abnormal cells in the body divide uncontrollably and invade other tissues. Cancer can occur in any organ and any cell type within the body. Cancer cells spread throughout the body through the blood and lymph systems. There are over 100 different kinds of cancer, many of which form solid tumors, or masses of tissue. Cancers of the blood, such as leukemia, generally do not form solid tumors.

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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Respiratory diseases, including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), are among the nation’s most common and costly chronic conditions. People with COPD are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution. COPD-related emergency department visits and hospitalization data are available for query using the Health Data Explorer.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal. When we eat, our bodies turn the food we eat into glucose, which is a type of sugar. The pancreas, an organ near the stomach, creates a hormone called insulin that helps glucose get into cells where it can be used for energy. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin as well as it should. This can cause sugar to build up in the body. Insulin levels also affect carbohydrate, lipid, protein and mineral metabolism.

Heart Attack

An acute myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack, occurs when the blood supply to the heart is severely reduced or completely blocked. During a heart attack, heart muscle cells do not receive enough oxygen and begin to die. The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart.

Heat Stress

Heat stress, also known as heat-related illness, is a preventable illness that occurs when heat exposure exceeds the physiologic capacity to cool and the core body temperature rises. When this happens, a range of heat-related symptoms and conditions may develop. Heat stress illnesses include, but are not limited to, heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat syncope, or heat rash.

Hypertension

Often showing no symptoms, hypertension or high blood pressure is a major preventable risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Hypertension is a condition in which the force of blood against the artery walls is too high.

Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decrease your ability to process the blood. Heavy metals, smoking, herbicide and pesticide exposure, air pollution and certain plant and herbal toxins are possible contributors to kidney disease.

Occupational Health

Occupational health surveillance is the tracking of injuries, illnesses, hazards, and exposures that may be work-related. Any workplace can have hazards that put workers at risk for occupational health injuries and illnesses.

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Environment

When we think of the environment and how it impacts health, we tend to think of the earth and our natural environment - the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Humans are connected and a part of their natural environment. However, we may also spend a great deal of time in our homes, at work, in school, or other buildings. We breathe indoor air and consume or use household products, cosmetics, and medicines. Environmental hazards may include any chemicals or toxins we come into contact with that can cause harm. An example would be lead paint in the home or particulate matter in outdoor air. The presence of a hazard does not necessarily mean that health problems will occur, but it may cause a disease or other health problem. The LDH Tracking Program includes the following environmental indicators:

Climate

The Fifth National Climate Assessment (U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2023) summarizes the current status of climate variability in the United States and outlines potential impacts for the future. Among other impacts specifically related to the Southeast United States and Louisiana, increased temperatures and an associated increase in extreme heat events will impact the public’s health. Increased heat illness, heat-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations, and likely more deaths from heat stroke could occur, if we don’t take precautions now to adequately protect the most vulnerable in the population from heat exposure.

Our surrounding natural and built environments, energy, agriculture, and forestry will be affected by climate variability in various ways. For example, the habitats or ranges of mosquitos or ticks that transmit disease (vector-borne disease) may expand or change in ways that bring humans more into contact. Energy, forestry and our homes and businesses (making up our economy) are impacted by weather events and extreme rainfall, drought and wildfires.

Existing and emerging climate impacts that impact the health of Louisiana communities can be tracked as these data continue to be added to the Louisiana Department of Health, Health Data Explorer. Heat illness and temperature data can be tracked by the Louisiana climate division. Drought, periods of extreme precipitation (‘wetness’), and wildfires can be explored alongside both health and population data.

Topics such as sea level rise, the potential displacement of coastal communities, and vector-borne illness are being studied and considered for addition to the Data Explorer in the future.

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Drinking Water Quality

Public drinking water in Louisiana comes from mainly two sources, public water systems (the public water supply) and domestic wells (private water wells). The type and size of a public water system determines its monitoring and reporting requirements. There are around 1,280 public water systems in the state of Louisiana. The LDH Tracking network currently tracks the population served by these systems along with nine drinking water contaminants that are monitored in public drinking water. These selected contaminants have associations with the health effects being analyzed by the Tracking Program.

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Environmental Sampling - Mercury Levels in Fish

Because people have come in contact with mercury from eating fish in Louisiana, popular fishing areas and other water bodies in the state have been sampled by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) to determine the extent of risks due to mercury. Fish advisories are issued when harmful chemicals are found at levels that may impact the public's health. 

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Fish Consumption Advisories

Fish consumption advisories are issued when contaminants are found in fish at levels that may potentially impact the public's health.

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Outdoor Air Quality

Air quality can be affected by a wide variety of pollutants.  Air pollutants come from many different sources and can be gaseous chemicals as well as tiny solid and liquid particles. Currently, the LDH Tracking Program presents outdoor air quality data on monitored ground-level ozone and particulate matter (PM) that is less than 2.5 micrometers or smaller known as PM_2.5.

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Population

Health Factors & Behaviors 

Health factors and behaviors are actions, practices, or habits that have an impact on health. Health risk behaviors, including lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption, are considered contributors in some way to illness and death from chronic disease.

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Sociodemographics

Sociodemographic measures provide information on factors that can influence environmental exposures and human health. These measures are based on population. The relationship between these measures with exposure and health is based on epidemiological studies. Individual factors and genetics, which are components of health risk factors, are not part of these data.

Exposures

Environmental chemicals are found in air, water, food, soil, dust, or consumer products. They can be natural or man-made. Chemicals can vastly improve our quality of life and advance technology and medicine, but some chemicals are suspected to cause diseases or illnesses in people at certain doses or levels of exposure.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Carbon monoxide is a tasteless, odorless, and colorless gas that can come from a variety of sources. Breathing high levels can cause carbon monoxide poisoning, which can cause severe illness or even death in just minutes.  For this reason, carbon monoxide is often referred to as an invisible killer.

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Childhood Blood Lead Levels 

Children under 6 years old are more susceptible to blood lead poisoning than adults. They are more in touch with exposures such as lead in dust, on the floor or soil, and often handle items in their hands or mouths. Lead is a metal element that can be present in everyday environments. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), there is no safe level of blood lead in children. Even in small amounts, lead is poisonous and can be harmful to a child’s development. All children in Louisiana should be screened for lead exposure at 6 months of age and at ages 1 or 2.

Within the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), the Louisiana Healthy Homes and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (LHHCLPPP) records reported childhood blood levels. They urge all parents through their pediatricians to screen children for lead. For more information, please visit: www.ldh.la.gov/lead.

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Pesticide Exposures

Pesticide exposure occurs when humans come into contact with chemicals intended to control pests. Pesticide exposure can sometimes lead to pesticide poisoning.  Pesticide exposures may result from a single, short-term exposure to high levels of pesticides; a long-term exposure to high levels of pesticides; or a long-term exposure to low levels of pesticides. There are many different sources or ways people can be exposed to pesticides including pesticide residues in the air, water, soil, sediment, food materials, plants and animals. The most common exposure scenarios for pesticide poisoning cases are accidental or suicidal poisonings, occupational exposure, bystander exposure to off-target drift, and the general public who are exposed through environmental contamination.

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