Neighborhood walk score and selected Cardiometabolic factors in the French RECORD cohort study.

Background: Walkable neighborhoods are purported to impact a range of cardiometabolic outcomes through increased walking, but there is limited research that examines multiple cardiometabolic outcomes. Additionally, few Walk Score (a novel measure of neighborhood walkability) studies have been conducted in a European context. We evaluated associations between neighborhood Walk Score and selected cardiometabolic outcomes, including obesity, hypertension and heart rate, among adults in the Paris metropolitan area.

Short-term association between personal exposure to noise and heart rate variability: The RECORD MultiSensor Study.

Background: Studies revealed long-term associations between noise exposure and cardiovascular health, but the underlying short-term mechanisms remain uncertain.

Objectives: To explore the concomitant and lagged short-term associations between personal exposure to noise and heart rate variability (HRV) in a real life setting in the Île-de-France region.

Methods: The RECORD MultiSensor Study collected between July 2014 and June 2015 noise and heart rate data for 75 participants, aged 34-74 years, in their living environments for 7 days using a personal dosimeter and electrocardiography (ECG) sensor on the chest.

Residential and GPS-Defined Activity Space Neighborhood Noise Complaints, Body Mass Index and Blood Pressure Among Low-Income Housing Residents in New York City.

Little is known about how neighborhood noise influences cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among low-income populations. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between neighborhood noise complaints and body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP) among low-income housing residents in New York City (NYC), including the use of global positioning system (GPS) data. Data came from the NYC Low-Income Housing, Neighborhoods and Health Study in 2014, including objectively measured BMI and BP data (N = 102, Black = 69%), and 1 week of GPS data.

Quantifying spatial misclassification in exposure to noise complaints among low-income housing residents across New York City neighborhoods: a Global Positioning System (GPS) study.

Purpose: To examine if there was spatial misclassification in exposure to neighborhood noise complaints among a sample of low-income housing residents in New York City, comparing home-based spatial buffers and Global Positioning System (GPS) daily path buffers.

Methods: Data came from the community-based NYC Low-Income Housing, Neighborhoods and Health Study, where GPS tracking of the sample was conducted for a week (analytic n = 102). We created a GPS daily path buffer (a buffering zone drawn around GPS tracks) of 200 m and 400 m.

A GPS-Based Methodology to Analyze Environment-Health Associations at the Trip Level: Case-Crossover Analyses of Built Environments and Walking.

Environmental health studies have examined associations between context and health with individuals as statistical units. However, investigators have been unable to investigate momentary exposures, and such studies are often vulnerable to confounding from, for example, individual-level preferences. We present a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based methodology for segmenting individuals' observation periods into visits to places and trips, enabling novel life-segment investigations and case-crossover analysis for improved inferences.

Walk Score, Transportation Mode Choice, and Walking Among French Adults: A GPS, Accelerometer, and Mobility Survey Study.

Background: Few studies have used GPS data to analyze the relationship between Walk Score, transportation choice and walking. Additionally, the influence of Walk Score is understudied using trips rather than individuals as statistical units. The purpose of this study is to examine associations at the trip level between Walk Score, transportation mode choice, and walking among Paris adults who were tracked with GPS receivers and accelerometers in the RECORD GPS Study.

Road, rail, and air transportation noise in residential and workplace neighborhoods and blood pressure (RECORD Study).

Associations between road traffic noise and hypertension have been repeatedly documented, whereas associations with rail or total road, rail, and air (RRA) traffic noise have rarely been investigated. Moreover, most studies of noise in the environment have only taken into account the residential neighborhood. Finally, few studies have taken into account individual/neighborhood confounders in the relationship between noise and hypertension.

Active transportation and public transportation use to achieve physical activity recommendations? A combined GPS, accelerometer, and mobility survey study.

Background: Accurate information is lacking on the extent of transportation as a source of physical activity, on the physical activity gains from public transportation use, and on the extent to which population shifts in the use of transportation modes could increase the percentage of people reaching official physical activity recommendations.

Methods: In 2012-2013, 234 participants of the RECORD GPS Study (French Paris region, median age = 58) wore a portable GPS receiver and an accelerometer for 7 consecutive days and completed a 7-day GPS-based mobility survey (participation rate = 57.1%).

Environmental conditions around itineraries to destinations as correlates of walking for transportation among adults: the RECORD cohort study.

Introduction: Assessing the contextual factors that influence walking for transportation is important to develop more walkable environments and promote physical activity. To advance previous research focused on residential environments and overall walking for transportation, the present study investigates objective environmental factors assessed around the residence, the workplace, the home--work itinerary, and the home--supermarket itinerary, and considered overall walking for transportation but also walking to work and to shops.

Methods: Data from the RECORD Study involving 7290 participants recruited in 2007-2008, aged 30-79 years, and residing in the Paris metropolitan area were analyzed.

Residential neighborhood, geographic work environment, and work economic sector: associations with body fat measured by bioelectrical impedance in the RECORD Study.

Purpose: Studies of associations between geographic environment and obesity have mostly examined body mass index and focused on residential neighborhoods. We investigated associations between residential neighborhoods, geographic work environments, and work economic sectors and the fat mass index (FMI) and percentage of fat mass (%FM).

Methods: Data on 4331 participants from the French RECORD Study geolocated at their residence and workplace were analyzed.

Transportation noise and annoyance related to road traffic in the French RECORD study.

Road traffic and related noise is a major source of annoyance and impairment to health in urban areas. Many areas exposed to road traffic noise are also exposed to rail and air traffic noise. The resulting annoyance may depend on individual/neighborhood socio-demographic factors.

Spatial accessibility to specific sport facilities and corresponding sport practice: the RECORD Study.

Background: Physical activity is considered as a major component of a healthy lifestyle. However, few studies have examined the relationships between the spatial accessibility to sport facilities and sport practice with a sufficient degree of specificity. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between the spatial accessibility to specific types of sports facilities and the practice of the corresponding sports after carefully controlling for various individual socio-demographic characteristics and neighborhood socioeconomic variables.

GPS tracking in neighborhood and health studies: a step forward for environmental exposure assessment, a step backward for causal inference?

Recent studies have relied on GPS tracking to assess exposure to environmental characteristics over daily life schedules. Combining GPS and GIS allows for advances in environmental exposure assessment. However, biases related to selective daily mobility preclude assessment of environmental effects, to the extent that these studies may represent a step backward in terms of assessment of causal effects.

Emergence and challenges of eco-medicine in France.

Increasing popularity of eco-medicine and its preliminary recognition by European Union raise questions about a clear definition and its practice in European countries as its relevance in France.

Towards a multidisciplinary and integrated strategy in the assessment of adverse health effects related to air pollution: the case study of Cracow (Poland) and asthma.

Complex interaction between anthropogenic activities, air quality and human health in urban areas, such as in Cracow sustains the need for the development of an interdisciplinary and integrated risk-assessment methodology. In such purpose, we propose a pilot study performed on asthmatics and based on a combined use of a biomarker, such as metallothionein 2A (MT-2A) in the characterization of human exposure to one or a mixture of pollutants and of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.