Comparing effects of Euclidean buffers and network buffers on associations between built environment and transport walking: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Associations between neighborhood built-environment characteristics and hepatic steatosis: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the spatio-temporal association between features of the built environment and subclinical liver disease.

DESIGN

We used data from a large community-based population, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (2000-2002, N = 5542) with linked historical residential data that characterized past exposure to alcohol outlets (bars and liquor stores), healthy foods stores, and physical activity facilities (1990-2001). We examined whether and how past residential relate to hepatic steatosis (proxied by liver attenuation measured using computed tomography, with lower attenuation indicating higher hepatic steatosis). Hepatic steatosis is the most common.

RESULTS

We found significant associations between past residential exposure to neighborhood alcohol outlets, healthy food and physical activity resources, and hepatic steatosis. The spatial scale where the association between these features of the built environment and hepatic steatosis operate lies within 3 km (∼2 miles). The average association on liver attenuation per additional bar, liquor, healthy food store, and physical activity facility within a 2-mile buffer, were: -0.06 (95% CI -0.09, -0.03), -0.02 (95% CI -0.04, -0.009), 0.05 (95% CI 0.02, 0.07), 0.02 (95% CI 0.01, 0.04), respectively, in the preceding year of the measurement of hepatic steatosis. Furthermore, the association and spatial scale remains consistent ten years prior to the measurement of hepatic steatosis.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that modifying neighborhood environments (decreasing alcohol outlets and improving access to healthy food and physical activity) may represent an effective population-wide approach to reduce liver-related morbidity.

Systematic Review of Longitudinal Evidence and Methodologies for Research on Neighborhood Characteristics and Brain Health

Objective: Synthesize longitudinal research evaluating neighborhood environments and cognition to identify methodological approaches, findings, and gaps. Methods: Included studies evaluated associations between neighborhood and cognition longitudinally among adults >45 years (or mean age of 65 years) living in developed nations. We extracted data on sample characteristics, exposures, outcomes, methods, overall findings, and assessment of disparities. Results: Forty studies met our inclusion criteria. Most (65%) measured exposure only once and a majority focused on green space and/or blue space (water), neighborhood socioeconomic status, and recreation/physical activity facilities. Similarly, over half studied incident impairment, cognitive function or decline (70%), with one examining MRI (2.5%) or Alzheimer's disease (7.5%). While most studies used repeated measures analysis to evaluate changes in the brain health outcome (51%), many studies did not account for any type of correlation within neighborhoods (35%). Less than half evaluated effect modification by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and/or sex/gender. Evidence was mixed and dependent on exposure or outcome assessed. Conclusion: Although longitudinal research evaluating neighborhood and cognitive decline has expanded, gaps remain in types of exposures, outcomes, analytic approaches, and sample diversity.

Dynamic greenspace exposure, individual mental health status and momentary stress level: A study using multiple greenspace measurements

Previous research on the relationship between greenspace exposure and mental health has largely taken a residence-based approach to exposure assessment, ignoring the dynamic nature of people's daily movements. Moreover, most studies evaluated greenspace from an overhead perspective, whereas an eye-level perspective could potentially offer a more comprehensive understanding of individuals' encounters with greenspaces. Based on our survey in two communities in Hong Kong (Sham Shui Po and Tin Shui Wai), we captured people's eye-level greenspace exposure based on their travel routes and visited places using GPS trajectories, streetscape images, and deep learning methods. We then compared the results with those obtained with an overhead greenness exposure measure (the normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI]). The results indicate that these two greenspace measurements are not associated with each other, implying that they encompass distinct facets of greenspace, which may have different effects on mental health. Further, we examined the associations between various greenspace exposure measures and mental health using GPS trajectories and ecological momentary assessment data. The results reveal a negative association between eye-level greenspace exposure and momentary stress, while no similar association was observed when using the top-down NDVI as an indicator of greenspace exposure. Moreover, compared to the total volume of greenspace exposure, the distance-weighted average of greenspace exposure based on dynamic mobility contexts has a stronger association with individual overall mental health. Lastly, the relationship between greenspace exposure and mental health varies between the two communities with different socio-economic attributes. The study indicates that policymakers should focus not only on residential neighborhoods and overhead greenspace but also consider the dynamic environments and socio-economic contexts that people are embedded in.

Spatial scale effects on associations between built environment and cognitive function: Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Built environments have the potential to favorably support cognitive function. Despite growing work on this topic, most of the work has ignored variation in the spatial scale of the effect. The issue with spatial scale effects is that the size and shape of the areal unit within which built environment characteristics are measured naturally influence the built environment exposure metric and thus the estimated associations with health. We used spatial distributed lag modeling (DLM) to estimate how associations between built environment exposures (walkable destinations [WD], social destinations [SD]) and change in cognition varied across distance of these destinations from participants' residences. Cognition was assessed as maintained/improved processing speed (PS) and global cognition (GC). Person-level data from Exam 5 (2010-2012) and Exam 6 (2016-2018) of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis was used (N = 1380, mean age 67). Built environment data were derived from the National Establishment Time Series. Higher availability of walkable and social destinations at closer distance from participants' residence was associated with maintained/improved PS. The adjusted associations between maintained/improved PS and destinations waned with increasing distance from the residence; associations were evident until approximately 1.9-km for WD and 1.5-km for SD. Associations were most apparent for participants living in areas with high population density. We found little evidence for associations between change in GC and built environment at any distance. These results highlight the importance of identifying appropriate spatial scale to understand the mechanisms for built environment-cognition associations.

Short-term exposure sequences and anxiety symptoms: a time series clustering of smartphone-based mobility trajectories

BACKGROUND

Short-term environmental exposures, including green space, air pollution, and noise, have been suggested to affect health. However, the evidence is limited to aggregated exposure estimates which do not allow the capture of daily spatiotemporal exposure sequences. We aimed to (1) determine individuals' sequential exposure patterns along their daily mobility paths and (2) examine whether and to what extent these exposure patterns were associated with anxiety symptoms.

METHODS

We cross-sectionally tracked 141 participants aged 18-65 using their global positioning system (GPS) enabled smartphones for up to 7 days in the Netherlands. We estimated their location-dependent exposures for green space, fine particulate matter, and noise along their moving trajectories at 10-min intervals. The resulting time-resolved exposure sequences were then partitioned using multivariate time series clustering with dynamic time warping as the similarity measure. Respondents' anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Generalized Anxiety Disorders-7 questionnaire. We fitted linear regressions to assess the associations between sequential exposure patterns and anxiety symptoms.

RESULTS

We found four distinctive daily sequential exposure patterns across the participants. Exposure patterns differed in terms of exposure levels and daily variations. Regression results revealed that participants with a "moderately health-threatening" exposure pattern were significantly associated with fewer anxiety symptoms than participants with a "strongly health-threatening" exposure pattern.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings support that environmental exposures' daily sequence and short-term magnitudes may be associated with mental health. We urge more time-resolved mobility-based assessments in future analyses of environmental health effects in daily life.

Systematic and meta-based evaluation of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity behaviors among older adults

Objectives

Existing assertions about the relationship between various factors of the built environment and physical activity behaviors are inconsistent and warrant further exploration and analysis.

Methods

This study systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, the Cochrane Library and Google Scholar for the effect of the built environment on the physical activity behaviors of older adults. R software was used to calculate the meta-estimated odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval. Simultaneously, the quality of included studies was evaluated using an observational study quality evaluation standard recommended by American health care quality and research institutions.

Results

A total of 16 original researches were included in this meta-analysis and eight factors of the built environment were evaluated. These factors which ranked from high to low according to their impact were traffic safety (OR = 1.58, 95% CI [1.14-2.20]), destination accessibility (OR = 1.24, 95% CI [1.06-1.44]), aesthetics of sports venues (OR = 1.21, 95% CI [1.07-1.37]), virescence of sports venues (OR = 1.14, 95% CI [1.06-1.23]), building density (OR = 1.07, 95% CI [1.02-1.13]). Additionally, it seemed that there was no potential association between mixed land use (OR = 1.01, 95% CI [0.92-1.10]), the quality of pedestrian facilities (OR = 1.00, 95% CI [0.92-1.08]) or commercial facilities (OR = 0.94, 95% CI [0.88-1.00]) and physical activity behaviors of older adults.

Conclusions

The built environment has been found to exhibit a significant relationship with the physical activity behaviors of older adults. It is proposed that factors such as traffic safety, destination accessibility, aesthetics of sports venues, virescence of sports venues, and building density be given more consideration when aiming to promote physical activity levels among older adults.

Urban densification over 9 years and change in the metabolic syndrome: A nationwide investigation from the ORISCAV-LUX cohort study

A growing body of evidence suggests that urban densification may be protective against obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiometabolic diseases, yet studies on how built environmental features relate to metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components are scarce. This longitudinal study examines the associations of baseline urban density and densification over 9 years with MetS and MetS components, among 510 participants enrolled in both waves of the ORISCAV-LUX study (2007-2017) in Luxembourg. A continuous MetS score (siMS) was calculated for each participant. Six features of residential built environments were computed around participants' home address: street connectivity, population density, density of amenities, street network distance to the nearest bus station, density of public transport stations, and land use mix. A composite index of urban densification (UDI) was calculated by averaging the six standardized built environment variables. Using adjusted generalized estimating equation (GEE) models, one-SD increase in UDI was associated with a worsening of the siMS score (β = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.13), higher triglyceride levels (β = 0.05, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.09), and lower HDL-c levels (β = -1.29, 95% CI: -2.20, -0.38). The detrimental effect of UDI on lipid levels was significant only for participants living in dense areas at baseline. Higher baseline UDI, as well as increased UDI over time among movers, were also associated with greater waist circumference. There were no associations between UDI, fasting plasma glucose and systolic blood pressure. Sex and neighborhood socio-economic status did not moderate the associations between UDI and the cardiometabolic outcomes. Overall, we found limited evidence for an effect of urban densification on MetS and its components. Understanding urban dynamics remains a challenge, and more research investigating the independent and joint health effect of built environment features is needed to support urban planning and design that promote cardiometabolic health.

Associations between neighborhood walkability and walking following residential relocation: Findings from Alberta's Tomorrow Project

Introduction

Cross-sectional studies consistently find that the neighborhood built environment (e.g., walkability) is associated with walking. However, findings from the few existing longitudinal residential relocation studies that have estimated associations between changes in neighborhood built characteristics and walking are equivocal. The study objective was to estimate whether changes in neighborhood walkability resulting from residential relocation were associated with leisure, transportation, and total walking levels among adults.

Methods

This study included longitudinal data from the "Alberta's Tomorrow Project"-a province-wide cohort study (Alberta, Canada). The analysis included data collected at two time points (i.e., baseline and follow-up) from 5,977 urban adults. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) captured self-reported walking. We estimated neighborhood walkability, an index capturing intersection, destination, and population counts for the 400 m Euclidean buffer around participants' homes. Using household postal codes reported at baseline and follow-up, we categorized participants into three groups reflecting residential relocation ("non-movers:" n = 5,679; "movers to less walkability:" n = 164, and; "movers to more walkability:" n = 134). We used Inverse-Probability-Weighted Regression Adjustment to estimate differences [i.e., average treatment effects in the treated (ATET)] in weekly minutes of leisure, transportation, and total walking at follow-up between residential relocation groups, adjusting for baseline walking, sociodemographic characteristics, and walkability. The median time between baseline and follow-up was 2-years.

Results

The three residential relocation groups mainly included women (61.6-67.2%) and had a mean age of between 52.2 and 55.7 years. Compared to "non-movers" (reference group), weekly minutes of transportation walking at follow-up was significantly lower among adults who moved to less walkable neighborhoods (ATET: -41.34, 95 CI: -68.30, -14.39; p < 0.01). We found no other statistically significant differences in walking between the groups.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that relocating to less walkable neighborhoods could have detrimental effects on transportation walking to the extent of adversely affecting health. Public health strategies that counteract the negative impacts of low walkable neighborhoods and leverage the supportiveness of high walkable neighborhoods might promote more walking.