Radon Testing Disparities in States

Radon is present in homes, schools and workplaces across the country, and high levels have been found in every state. Because radon cannot be detected with the senses, proper testing is the only way to determine what amount is present in any specific building.

Radon professionals have promoted the need to test all homes and other buildings for many years, but most places in the country remain dangerously undertested, leaving millions of people at risk.

Because the resources available to address the radon problem are limited, state and local decision-makers often must make hard choices about where and how to direct their efforts to promote and support testing and mitigation. Unfortunately, disparities in distribution of these resources are leaving some communities behind in areas where the need for radon risk reduction is quite significant.

This series of state reports on testing disparities has been developed to help decisionmakers identify communities most in need of additional attention. 

Developing the Testing Disparity Metric

When looked at separately, neither average radon level nor rate of testing provide enough information to allow decision-makers to allocate limited resources to communities at potentially greatest risk. Expected average pre-mitigation radon levels do not address how well an area’s radon problem is being evaluated, let alone being acted upon. Likewise, reported rates of testing are often strongly associated with socioeconomic and educational demographics and as a result do not reliably characterize the possible seriousness of the radon problem.

Therefore, in line with the Tracking Network goal of informing public health decision-making and action at the state and local level, the American Lung Association is introducing a new “Testing Disparity” metric for radon. This single value combines the two data points to reveal areas of distinctly high average radon and/or severe undertesting. This is to recognize that all poorly tested areas need more data and serious radon problems may yet be detected within them. Similarly, while all areas, and certainly those with high average radon levels, need to be tested, those with lower testing rates may have been overlooked in terms of the attention and resources they are due.

State Reports

The Lung Association contracted with a team at the University of Iowa College of Public Health to develop an analytical framework, process the data, and produce state-level Radon Testing Disparity reports, listed below. Note that reports were not prepared for Hawaii and Mississippi due to a lack of current data at the time of report preparation.

Within each report, users who are interested in technical details will find a link to obtain full code and tabular versions of the data that are displayed qualitatively in the summary reports. Because this work has resulted in a reproducible analytical procedure and document templates, the Lung Association anticipates being able to make updates and improvements as warranted in future years.