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. Discussion Longitudinal data, such as NETS, offer opportunities to assess how differential access to resources impacts population health, to consider correlations among multiple environmental influences across the life course, and to gain a better understanding of their interactions and cumulative health effects. Longitudinal data also introduce new data management, geoprocessing, and business categorization challenges. Examining geocoding accuracy and categorization over 21 years of data in 23 counties surrounding New York City (NY, USA), we find that health-related business environments change considerably over time. We note that re-geocoding data may improve spatial precision, particularly in early years. Our intent with this paper is to make future public health applications of NETS data more efficient, since the size and complexity of the data can be difficult to exploit fully within its 2-year data-licensing period. Further, standardized approaches to NETS and other “big data” will facilitate the veracity and comparability of results across studies

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. We use longitudinal census tract-level data from the National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) for New York City in the period 1990-2010 and implement latent class growth analysis (LCGA) to (1) examine trajectories of change in the number of unhealthy food outlets (characterized as selling calorie-dense foods such as pizza and pastries) at the census tract-level, and (2) examine how trajectories are related to socio-demographic characteristics of the census tract. Overall, the number of BMI-unhealthy food outlets increased between 1990 and 2010. We summarized trajectories of evolutions with a 5-class model that indicates a pattern of fanning out, such that census tracts with a higher initial number of BMI-unhealthy food outlets in 1990 experienced a more rapid increase over time. Finally, fully adjusted logistic regression models reveal a greater increase in BMI-unhealthy food outlets in census tracts with: higher baseline population size, lower baseline income, and lower proportion of Black residents. Greater BMI-unhealthy food outlet increases were also noted in the context of census tracts change suggestive of urbanization (increasing population density) or increasing purchasing power (increasing income)

Unfair Treatment and Self-Regulatory Focus

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89950/1/oyserman__uskul__yoder__et_al..pd

Broker Fixed: The Racialized Social Structure and the Subjugation of Indigenous Populations in the Andes

Responding to calls to return racial analysis to indigenous Latin America, this article moves beyond the prejudicial attitudes of dominant groups to specify how native subordination gets perpetuated as a normal outcome of the organization of society. I argue that a naturalized system of indirect rule racially subordinates native populations through creating the position of mestizo “authoritarian intermediary.” Natives must depend on these cultural brokers for their personhood, while maintaining this privileged position requires facilitating indigenous exploitation. Institutional structures combine with cultural practices to generate a vicious cycle in which increased village intermediary success increases native marginalization. This racialized social structure explains my ethnographic findings that indigenous villagers continued to support the same coterie of mestizos despite their regular and sometimes extreme acts of peculation. My findings about the primacy of race suggest new directions for research into indigenous studies, ethnic mobilizations, and the global dimensions of racial domination

Cross-sectional interactions between quality of the physical and social environment and self-reported physical activity in adults living in income-deprived communities

Background: Understanding the environmental determinants of physical activity in populations at high risk of inactivity could contribute to the development of effective interventions. Socioecological models of activity propose that environmental factors have independent and interactive effects of physical activity but there is a lack of research into interactive effects. Objectives: This study aimed to explore independent and interactive effects of social and physical environmental factors on self-reported physical activity in income-deprived communities. Methods: Participants were 5,923 adults in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Features of the social environment were self-reported. Quality of the physical environment was objectively-measured. Neighbourhood walking and participation in moderate physical activity [MPA] on ≥5 days/week was self-reported. Multilevel multivariate logistic regression models tested independent and interactive effects of environmental factors on activity. Results: ‘Social support’ (walking: OR:1.22,95%CI=1.06-1.41,p<0.01; MPA: OR:0.79,95%CI=0.67-0.94,p<0.01), ‘social interaction’ (walking: OR:1.25,95%CI=1.10-1.42,p<0.01; MPA: OR:6.16,95%CI=5.14-7.37,p<0.001) and ‘cohesion and safety’ (walking: OR:1.78,95%CI=1.56-2.03,p<0.001; MPA: OR:1.93,95%CI=1.65-2.27,p<0.001), but not ‘trust and empowerment’, had independent effects on physical activity. ‘Aesthetics of built form’ (OR:1.47,95%CI=1.22-1.77,p<0.001) and ‘aesthetics and maintenance of open space’ (OR:1.32, 95%CI=1.13-1.54,p<0.01) were related to walking. ‘Physical disorder’ (OR:1.63,95%CI=1.31-2.03,p<0.001) had an independent effect on MPA. Interactive effects of social and physical factors on walking and MPA were revealed. Conclusions: Findings suggest that intervening to create activity-supportive environments in deprived communities may be most effective when simultaneously targeting the social and physical neighbourhood environment

Streetscape Features Related to Pedestrian Activity

By measuring twenty streetscape features and numerous other variables for 588 blocks in New York City, we were able to identify variables that explain pedestrian traffic volumes. We found significant positive correlations between three out of twenty streetscape features with pedestrian counts after controlling for density and other built environmental variables. The significant streetscape features are the proportion of windows on the street, the proportion of active street frontage, and the number of pieces of street furniture. This study provides guidance for streetscape projects that aim to create walkable streets and pedestrian-friendly environments