‎The association between cumulative exposure to neighborhood walkability (NW) and diabetes risk, a prospective cohort study.

Purpose: To examine the association between cumulative exposure to neighborhood walkability (NW) and diabetes risk.

Methods: A total of 11,037 women free of diabetes at enrollment were included. We constructed a 4-item NW index at baseline, and a 2-item average annual NW across years of follow-up that captured both changes in neighborhood features and residential moves.

Long-Term Exposure to Walkable Residential Neighborhoods and Risk of Obesity-Related Cancer in the New York University Women's Health Study (NYUWHS).

Background: Living in neighborhoods with higher levels of walkability has been associated with a reduced risk of obesity and higher levels of physical activity. Obesity has been linked to increased risk of 13 cancers in women. However, long-term prospective studies of neighborhood walkability and risk for obesity-related cancer are scarce.

Cumulative Experience of Neighborhood Walkability and Change in Weight and Waist Circumference in REGARDS.

Neighborhood walkability-features of the built environment that promote pedestrian activity-has been associated with greater physical activity and lower body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight (kg)/height (m)2) among neighborhood residents. However, much of the literature has been cross-sectional and only a few cohort studies have assessed neighborhood features throughout follow-up. Using data from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study (2003-2016) and a neighborhood walkability index (NWI) measured annually during follow-up, we assessed whether the cumulative experience of neighborhood walkability (NWI-years) predicted BMI and waist circumference after approximately 10 years of follow-up, controlling for these anthropometric measures at enrollment.

Neighborhood Food Environment and Birth Weight Outcomes in New York City.

Importance: Infants born with unhealthy birth weight are at greater risk for long-term health complications, but little is known about how neighborhood characteristics (eg, walkability, food environment) may affect birth weight outcomes.

Objective: To assess whether neighborhood-level characteristics (poverty rate, food environment, and walkability) are associated with risk of unhealthy birth weight outcomes and to evaluate whether gestational weight gain mediated these associations.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The population-based cross-sectional study included births in the 2015 vital statistics records from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Causal Inference with Case-Only Studies in Injury Epidemiology Research.

Purpose Of Review: We review the application and limitations of two implementations of the "case-only design" in injury epidemiology with example analyses of Fatality Analysis Reporting System data.

Recent Findings: The term "case-only design" covers a variety of epidemiologic designs; here, two implementations of the design are reviewed: (1) studies to uncover etiological heterogeneity and (2) studies to measure exposure effect modification. These two designs produce results that require different interpretations and rely upon different assumptions.

Neighbourhood walkability is associated with risk of gestational diabetes: A cross-sectional study in New York City.

Background: Despite the links between neighbourhood walkability and physical activity, body size and risk of diabetes, there are few studies of neighbourhood walkability and risk of gestational diabetes (GD).

Objectives: Assess whether higher neighbourhood walkability is associated with lower risk of GD in New York City (NYC).

Methods: Cross-sectional analyses of a neighbourhood walkability index (NWI) score and density of walkable destinations (DWD) and risk of GD in 109,863 births recorded in NYC in 2015.

Neighborhood walkability and sex steroid hormone levels in women.

Background: Neighborhood walkability (NW) has been linked to increased physical activity, which in turn is associated with lower concentrations of sex hormones and higher concentration of SHBG in women. However, no study has directly examined the association of NW with female sex hormone levels.

Objective: We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the association between NW and circulating levels of sex hormones and SHBG in pre- and post-menopausal women.

Association of the built environment and neighborhood resources with obesity-related health behaviors in older veterans with hypertension.

Objective: To evaluate the association of the built environment and neighborhood resources with exercise, diet, and body mass index (BMI).

Method: Person-level data were collected from 533 veterans with uncontrolled hypertension. Neighborhood measures were: (a) census-tract level walkability; and (b) healthy food proximity (HFP).

Addressing patient's unmet social needs: disparities in access to social services in the United States from 1990 to 2014, a national times series study.

Background: To address patient's unmet social needs and improve health outcomes, health systems have developed programs to refer patients in need to social service agencies. However, the capacity to respond to patient referrals varies tremendously across communities. This study assesses the emergence of disparities in spatial access to social services from 1990 to 2014.

Neighborhood walkability and poverty predict excessive gestational weight gain: A cross-sectional study in New York City.

Objective: This study evaluated associations between neighborhood-level characteristics and gestational weight gain (GWG) in a population-level study of 2015 New York City births.

Methods: Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for associations between neighborhood-level characteristics (poverty, food environment, walkability) within 1 km of a residential Census block centroid and excessive or inadequate GWG compared with recommended GWG. All models were adjusted for individual-level sociodemographic characteristics.

Using universal kriging to improve neighborhood physical disorder measurement.

Ordinary kriging, a spatial interpolation technique, is commonly used in social sciences to estimate neighborhood attributes such as physical disorder. Universal kriging, developed and used in physical sciences, extends ordinary kriging by supplementing the spatial model with additional covariates. We measured physical disorder on 1,826 sampled block faces across 4 US cities (New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and San Jose) using Google Street View imagery.

Neighborhood Walkability and Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of Women.

Background: There is a paucity of prospective cohort studies evaluating neighborhood walkability in relation to the risk of death.

Methods: We geocoded baseline residential addresses of 13,832 women in the New York University Women's Health Study (NYUWHS) and estimated the Built Environment and Health Neighborhood Walkability Index (BEH-NWI) for each participant circa 1990. The participants were recruited from 1985 to 1991 in New York City and followed for an average of 27 years.

Health and Health-Related Resources in Newly Designated Federally Qualified Opportunity Zones: United States, 2012-2016.

To characterize health and health-related resources in the new qualified opportunity zones (QOZs) relative to tracts not selected or not eligible for this federal investment incentive. We used tract-level data from the 498 largest cities in the contiguous United States (n = 24 409), categorized using designations from the Department of Treasury. We compiled data on population characteristics, health-related resources, and health from the American Community Survey, the National Establishment Time Series, the National Land Cover Dataset, and the US Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project and the 500 Cities projects.

Disparities in trajectories of changes in the unhealthy food environment in New York City: A latent class growth analysis, 1990-2010.

Disparities in availability of food retailers in the residential environment may help explain racial/ethnic and socio-economic differences in obesity risk. Research is needed that describes whether food environment dynamics may contribute to equalizing conditions across neighborhoods or to amplifying existing inequalities over time. This study improves the understanding of how the BMI-unhealthy food environment has evolved over time in New York City.

Development of a Neighborhood Walkability Index for Studying Neighborhood Physical Activity Contexts in Communities across the U.S. over the Past Three Decades.

To examine how urban form shapes physical activity and health over time, a measure of neighborhood walkability is needed that can be linked to cohort studies with participants living across the United States (U.S.) that have been followed over the past decades.

Neighborhood Recreation Facilities and Facility Membership Are Jointly Associated with Objectively Measured Physical Activity.

Efforts to increase physical activity have traditionally included either individual-level interventions (e.g., educational campaigns) or neighborhood-level interventions (e.

Neighborhood Physical Disorder in New York City.

Neighborhood physical disorder, or the deterioration of urban environments, is associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes. Eleven trained raters used CANVAS, a web-based system for conducting reliable virtual street audits, to collect data on nine indicators of physical disorder using Google Street View imagery of 532 block faces in New York City, New York, USA. We combined the block face indicator data into a disorder scale using item response theory; indicators ranged in severity from presence of litter, a weak indicator of disorder, to abandoned cars, a strong indicator.

Beyond Income Poverty: Measuring Disadvantage in Terms of Material Hardship and Health.

The New York City (NYC) Longitudinal Study of Wellbeing, or "Poverty Tracker," is a survey of approximately 2300 NYC residents. Its purpose is to provide a multidimensional and dynamic understanding of economic disadvantage in NYC. Measures of disadvantage were collected at baseline and a 12-month follow-up, and include 3 types of disadvantage: 1) income poverty, using a measure on the basis of the new Supplemental Poverty Measure; 2) material hardship, including indicators of food insecurity, housing hardship, unmet medical needs, utility cutoffs, and financial insecurity; and 3) adult health problems, which can drain family time and resources.

Use of Google Street View to Assess Environmental Contributions to Pedestrian Injury.

Objectives: To demonstrate an information technology-based approach to assess characteristics of streets and intersections associated with injuries that is less costly and time-consuming than location-based studies of pedestrian injury.

Methods: We used imagery captured by Google Street View from 2007 to 2011 to assess 9 characteristics of 532 intersections within New York City. We controlled for estimated pedestrian count and estimated the relation between intersections' characteristics and frequency of injurious collisions.

Using GPS Data to Study Neighborhood Walkability and Physical Activity.

Introduction: Urban form characteristics intended to support pedestrian activity, collectively referred to as neighborhood walkability, are thought to increase total physical activity. However, little is known about how neighborhood walkability influences utilization of neighborhood space by residents and their overall physical activity.

Methods: Sociodemographic information and data on mobility and physical activity over 1-week periods measured by GPS loggers and accelerometers were collected from 803 residents of New York City between November 2010 and November 2011.

Measuring health-relevant businesses over 21 years: refining the National Establishment Time-Series (NETS), a dynamic longitudinal data set.

Background: The densities of food retailers, alcohol outlets, physical activity facilities, and medical facilities have been associated with diet, physical activity, and management of medical conditions. Most of the research, however, has relied on cross-sectional studies. In this paper, we assess methodological issues raised by a data source that is increasingly used to characterize change in the local business environment: the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) dataset.

Development and deployment of the Computer Assisted Neighborhood Visual Assessment System (CANVAS) to measure health-related neighborhood conditions.

Public health research has shown that neighborhood conditions are associated with health behaviors and outcomes. Systematic neighborhood audits have helped researchers measure neighborhood conditions that they deem theoretically relevant but not available in existing administrative data. Systematic audits, however, are expensive to conduct and rarely comparable across geographic regions.

Validity of an ecometric neighborhood physical disorder measure constructed by virtual street audit.

Neighborhood physical disorder is thought to affect mental and physical health, but it has been difficult to measure objectively and reliably across large geographical areas or multiple locales. Virtual street audits are a novel method for assessing neighborhood characteristics. We evaluated the ecometric properties of a neighborhood physical disorder measure constructed from virtual street audit data.