Validating a geospatial healthfulness index with self-reported chronic disease and health outcomes.

Leveraging community engagement from past research may yield frameworks on which to build new inquiries. We previously integrated community voice into the development of a healthfulness index to increase awareness of social determinants of health in the built environment and inform deployment of public health interventions in the Flint (Michigan, USA) Center for Health Equity Solutions. Here we combine the healthfulness index with self-reported chronic disease and health outcomes (n = 12,279) from a community-based healthcare entity, the Genesee Health Plan.

Impact of the Sachet Alcohol Ban on Alcohol Availability in Uganda.

Objective: Alcohol use continues to be a major public health problem in Uganda. This study sought to estimate the availability of sachet alcohol among retail food and beverage establishments in two Ugandan districts (Kampala and Jinja) before and after enactment of the national sachet alcohol ban.

Method: Independent observations in 100 establishments were conducted by a pair of trained observers during the peak hours of 7 P.

Is a school's neighborhood physical disorder related to its academic outcomes?

Background: Neighborhood environment for student residences has been linked to differences in academic outcomes. However, school neighborhood has not been studied as a potential additional environmental factor in academic outcomes.

Objective: The goal of this study was to explore the association between school neighborhood disorder and academic outcomes.

A Novel Method for Evaluating and Comparing Community Health Reports.

Objectives: This study assessed the comprehensiveness and efficiency of existing Flint area public health community data using a novel method. One hundred thirty-eight community public health data reports were identified and screened for inclusion from Internet searches and community partner interviews.

Methods: Forty-two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-based health metrics were adopted as a standard for unbiased comparison.

Neighborhood Profiles and Associations with Coping Behaviors among Low-Income Youth.

Extant research has typically examined neighborhood characteristics in isolation using variable-centered approaches; however, there is reason to believe that perceptions of the neighborhood environment influence each other, requiring the use of person-centered approaches to study these relationships. The present study sought to determine profiles of youth that differ in their perceptions of their neighborhoods and objective neighborhood characteristics, and whether these profiles are associated with youth coping. Participants were low-income, African American youth (N= 733; 51.

Pathways Between a Polygenic Score for Educational Attainment and Higher Educational Attainment in an African American Sample.

We investigated the extent to which performance on standardized achievement tests, executive function (EF), and aggression in childhood and adolescence accounted for the relationship between a polygenic score for educational attainment (EA PGS) and years of education in a community sample of African Americans. Participants (N = 402; 49.9% female) were initially recruited for an elementary school-based prevention trial in a Mid-Atlantic city and followed into adulthood.

The population randomization observation process (PROP) assessment method: using systematic habitation observations of street segments to establish household-level epidemiologic population samples.

Background: Identifying and intervening on health disparities requires representative community public health data. For cities with high vacancy and transient populations, traditional methods of population estimation for refining random samples are not feasible. The aim of this project was to develop a novel method for systematic observations to establish community epidemiologic samples.

Understanding the relationship between alcohol outlet density and life expectancy in Baltimore City: The role of community violence and community disadvantage.

This research investigated the relationship between alcohol outlet density (AOD) and life expectancy, as mediated by community violence and community disadvantage. We used linear regression models to assess bivariate and multivariate relationships. There was a negative bivariate association between liquor store density and average life expectancy (β = -7.

Impact of Alcohol Tax Increase on Maryland College Students' Alcohol-Related Outcomes.

Objective: This study A) assessed whether levels of alcohol-related disciplinary actions on college campuses changed among MD college students after the 2011 Maryland (MD) state alcohol tax increase from 6% to 9%, and B) determined which school-level factors impacted the magnitude of changes detected.

Method: A quasi-experimental interrupted time series (ITS) analysis of panel data containing alcohol-related disciplinary actions on 33 MD college campuses in years 2006-2013. Negative binomial regression models were used to examine whether there was a statistically significant difference in counts of alcohol-related disciplinary actions comparing time before and after the tax increase.

Tobacco policies and on-premise smoking in bars and clubs that cater to young African Americans following the Maryland Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007.

African American young adults ages 18-25 smoke less than their Caucasian peers, yet the burden of tobacco-related illness is significantly higher in African Americans than in Caucasians across the lifespan. Little is known about how clean indoor air laws affect tobacco smoking among African American young adults. We conducted a systematic observation of bars and clubs with events targeted to African American adults 18-25 in Baltimore City at two timepoints (October and November of 2008 and 2010) after enforcement of the Maryland Clean Indoor Air Act (CIAA).

Triangulating Syndemic Services and Drug Treatment Policy: Improving Drug Treatment Portal Locations in Baltimore City.

The Problem: The prevalence of injection drug use (IDU) and incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remain high in Baltimore, where IDU is a primary HIV risk factor. Substance use disorders and HIV are related syndemically--their causes and consequences interact synergistically. Baltimore is increasingly considering the syndemic relationship of substance use disorders, IDU, and HIV in making decisions about drug treatment funding and location.

Impact of Maryland's 2011 alcohol sales tax increase on alcoholic beverage sales.

Background: Increasing alcohol taxes has proven effective in reducing alcohol consumption, but the effects of alcohol sales taxes on sales of specific alcoholic beverages have received little research attention. Data on sales are generally less subject to reporting biases than self-reported patterns of alcohol consumption.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the effects of Maryland's July 1, 2011 three percentage point increase in the alcohol sales tax (6-9%) on beverage-specific and total alcohol sales.

Objective and perceived neighborhood characteristics and tobacco use among young adults.

Background: In the US, past month tobacco use is higher among young adults aged 18-25 years than among any other age group. Neighborhood disorder may be a malleable environmental determinant of tobacco use among young adults; its correlation with tobacco use is understudied. The purpose of this study is to examine whether perceived and objectively measured neighborhood factors are associated with tobacco use among young adults in Baltimore City.

Neighborhood incivilities, perceived neighborhood safety, and walking to school among urban-dwelling children.

Background: Walking to school is an important source of physical activity among children. There is a paucity of research exploring environmental determinants of walking to school among children in urban areas.

Methods: A cross-sectional secondary analysis of baseline data (2007) from 365 children in the "Multiple Opportunities to Reach Excellence" (MORE) Study (8 to 13 years; Mean 9.

Neighborhood environment and internalizing problems in African American children.

This study examines gender differences in the association between environment and internalizing problems in a sample of predominately African American schoolchildren. Internalizing problems was assessed using the Youth Self Report. Violence and alcohol and other drug (AOD) exposure subscales were created using observational assessments of neighborhood blocks.

Toward national estimates of alcohol use disorders among drivers: results from the National Roadside Survey Pilot Program.

Objective: To determine whether drivers contacted at the roadside can be screened for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Secondarily, to produce preliminary estimates of AUDs among drivers and estimate the relationship between AUD status and BAC measured at the roadside.

Methods: A two-phase survey program was undertaken.