How Well Do Seniors Estimate Distance to Food? The Accuracy of Older Adults' Reported Proximity to Local Grocery Stores

The longitudinal associations between proximity to local grocery shops and functional ability in the very old living with and without multimorbidity: Results from the Newcastle 85+ study

BACKGROUNDS

The very old, people aged ≥85, is a fast-growing age group with high risk of disability and dependence. To identify environmental factors that support maintenance of functional ability, the aim of this study is to investigate the longitudinal associations between proximity to local grocery shops and the ability to shop for groceries in the very old and to examine the potential variation between those living with and without multimorbidity.

METHODS

This study was based on the Newcastle 85+ study, a population-based cohort of people aged 85 in North-East England. The numbers of grocery shops were identified within a 500 m road distance to participants' residence. Multilevel Poisson regression modelling was used to investigate whether proximity to local grocery shops was associated with the ability to do grocery shopping over five years in those with and without multimorbidity adjusting for sociodemographic factors and area deprivation.

RESULTS

The very old who lived in more deprived areas were more likely to have a grocery shop within 500 m than those in less deprived areas. Proximity to local grocery shops was not associated with the ability to do grocery shopping in the participants who had none or one chronic condition (IRR: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.89, 1.12) but moderated loss of the ability in those living with multimorbidity (IRR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.96).

CONCLUSIONS

For the very old living with multimorbidity, proximity to local grocery shops may support their functional ability. Future research should investigate how to support older people with poor health to access local grocery shops.

The Association of Neighborhood Changes with Health-Related Quality of Life in the Women's Health Initiative

Longitudinal studies can help us understand the effects of long-term neighborhood changes, as these can capture individual self-appraisal of current and future circumstances. We analyzed the association between neighborhood changes and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes among older women from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study. We used a subset (n = 49,254) of the longitudinal WHI dataset of female participants, aged 50-79 at baseline, recruited from 40 clinical centers across the U.S. beginning in 1993. Two HRQoL outcomes were explored: self-rated quality of life (SRQoL), and physical functioning-related quality of life (PFQoL). We used U.S. census tract-level changes in median household income between the 2000 census and 2007-2011 American Community Survey to classify neighborhoods as "upgrading," "declining," or "stable." Multi-level models were used to identify significant associations between neighborhood change and HRQoL outcomes over time. Compared to participants residing in upgrading neighborhoods, participants in stable and declining neighborhoods reported significantly lower PFQoL. A significant interaction was observed with income such that the effect of neighborhood change was greater at lower levels of income.

Digitalization in Food Supply Chains: A Bibliometric Review and Key-Route Main Path Analysis

Technological advances such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, social media, and geographic information systems represent a building block of the digital transformation that supports the resilience of the food supply chain (FSC) and increases its efficiency. This paper reviews the literature surrounding digitalization in FSCs. A bibliometric and key-route main path analysis was carried out to objectively and analytically uncover the knowledge development in digitalization within the context of sustainable FSCs. The research began with the selection of 2140 articles published over nearly five decades. Then, the articles were examined according to several bibliometric metrics such as year of publication, countries, institutions, sources, authors, and keywords frequency. A keyword co-occurrence network was generated to cluster the relevant literature. Findings of the review and bibliometric analysis indicate that research at the intersection of technology and the FSC has gained substantial interest from scholars. On the basis of keyword co-occurrence network, the literature is focused on the role of information communication technology for agriculture and food security, food waste and circular economy, and the merge of the Internet of Things and blockchain in the FSC. The analysis of the key-route main path uncovers three critical periods marking the development of technology-enabled FSCs. The study offers scholars a better understanding of digitalization within the agri-food industry and the current knowledge gaps for future research. Practitioners may find the review useful to remain ahead of the latest discussions of technology-enabled FSCs. To the authors’ best knowledge, the current study is one of the few endeavors to explore technology-enabled FSCs using a comprehensive sample of journal articles published during the past five decades.

Associations of social cohesion and quality of life with objective and perceived built environments: a latent profile analysis among seniors

BACKGROUND

Healthy aging requires support from local built and social environments. Using latent profile analysis, this study captured the multidimensionality of the built environment and examined relations between objective and perceived built environment profiles, neighborhood social cohesion and quality of life among seniors.

METHODS

In total, 693 participants aged 66-97 were sampled from two US locales in 2005-2008 as part of the Senior Neighborhood Quality of Life Study (SNQLS). Perceived social cohesion and quality of life were assessed using validated surveys. Six objective (geographic information system (GIS)-based) and seven perceived built environment latent profiles generated in previous SNQLS publications were used for analyses. Mixed-effects models estimated social cohesion and quality of life separately as a function of the built environment profiles.

RESULTS

More walkable and destination-rich perceived built environment profiles were associated with higher social cohesion and quality of life. Objective built environment profiles were not associated with social cohesion and only positively associated with quality of life in only one locale (Baltimore/DC).

CONCLUSIONS

Latent profile analysis offered a comprehensive approach to assessing the built environment. Seniors who perceived their neighborhoods to be highly walkable and recreationally dense experienced higher neighborhood social cohesion and quality of life, which may set the stage for healthier aging.