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

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Abstract

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 utilizing 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 one week of GPS data. Noise reports from “NYC 311” were used to create a noise complaints density (unit: 1,000 reports/km 2) around participants' home and GPS-defined activity space neighborhoods. In fully-adjusted models, we examined associations of noise complaints density with BMI (kg/m 2), and systolic and diastolic BP (mmHg), controlling for individual- and neighborhood-level socio-demographics. We found inverse relationships between home noise density and BMI (B=-2.7 [kg/m 2], p=0.009), and systolic BP (B=-5.3 mmHg, P=0.008) in the fully-adjusted models, and diastolic BP (B=-3.9 mmHg, P=0.013) in age-adjusted models. Using GPS-defined activity space neighborhoods, we observed inverse associations between noise density and systolic BP (B=-10.3 mmHg, p=0.019) in fully-adjusted models and diastolic BP (B=-7.5 mmHg, p=0.016) in age-adjusted model, but not with BMI. The inverse associations between neighborhood noise and CVD risk factors were unexpected. Further investigation is needed to determine if these results are affected by unobserved confounding (e.g., variations in walkability). Examining how noise could be related to CVD risk could inform effective neighborhood intervention programs for CVD risk reduction.

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Physical activity and food environments: solutions to the obesity epidemic.

James Sallis, Karen Glanz (2009)

Environmental, policy, and societal changes are important contributors to the rapid rise in obesity over the past few decades, and there has been substantial progress toward identifying environmental and policy factors related to eating and physical activity that can point toward solutions. This article is a status report on research on physical activity and food environments, and it suggests how these findings can be used to improve diet and physical activity and to control or reduce obesity. This article summarizes and synthesizes recent reviews and provides examples of representative studies. It also describes ongoing innovative interventions and policy change efforts that were identified through conference presentations, media coverage, and websites. Numerous cross-sectional studies have consistently demonstrated that some attributes of built and food environments are associated with physical activity, healthful eating, and obesity. Residents of walkable neighborhoods who have good access to recreation facilities are more likely to be physically active and less likely to be overweight or obese. Residents of communities with ready access to healthy foods also tend to have more healthful diets. Disparities in environments and policies that disadvantage low-income communities and racial minorities have been documented as well. Evidence from multilevel studies, prospective research, and quasi-experimental evaluations of environmental changes are just beginning to emerge. Environment, policy, and multilevel strategies for improving diet, physical activity, and obesity control are recommended based on a rapidly growing body of research and the collective wisdom of leading expert organizations. A public health imperative to identify and implement solutions to the obesity epidemic warrants the use of the most promising strategies while continuing to build the evidence base.

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Activity space environment and dietary and physical activity behaviors: a pilot study.

Shannon N. Zenk, Amy Schulz, Stephen A Matthews … (2011)

This study examined relationships among individual demographics, environmental features (e.g., fast food outlet density, park land use) of residential neighborhoods and activity spaces, and weight-related behaviors (diet, physical activity). Participants' movement was tracked for 7 days using global positioning systems (GPS). Two activity space measures (one standard deviation ellipse, daily path area) were derived from the GPS data. Activity spaces were generally larger than residential neighborhoods; environmental features of residential neighborhoods and activity spaces were weakly associated; and some activity space environmental features were related to dietary behaviors. Activity spaces may provide new insights into environmental influences on obesity-related behaviors. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Socioeconomic inequalities in non-communicable diseases and their risk factors: an overview of systematic reviews

Isolde Sommer, Ursula Griebler, Peter Mahlknecht … (2015)

Background Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the largest cause of premature death worldwide. Socioeconomic inequalities contribute to a disparity in the burden of NCDs among disadvantaged and advantaged populations in low (LIC), middle (MIC), and high income countries (HIC). We conducted an overview of systematic reviews to systematically and objectively assess the available evidence on socioeconomic inequalities in relation to morbidity and mortality of NCDs and their risk factors. Methods We searched PubMed, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Global Health, and Business Source Complete for relevant systematic reviews published between 2003 and December 2013. Two authors independently screened abstracts and full-text publications and determined the risk of bias of the included systematic reviews. Results We screened 3302 abstracts, 173 full-text publications and ultimately included 22 systematic reviews. Most reviews had major methodological shortcomings; however, our synthesis showed that having low socioeconomic status (SES) and/or living in low and middle income countries (LMIC) increased the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD), lung and gastric cancer, type 2 diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, low SES increased the risk of mortality from lung cancer, COPD, and reduced breast cancer survival in HIC. Reviews included here indicated that lower SES is a risk factor for obesity in HIC, but this association varied by SES measure. Early case fatalities of stroke were lower and survival of retinoblastoma was higher in MIC compared to LIC. Conclusions The current evidence supports an association between socioeconomic inequalities and NCDs and risk factors for NCDs. However, this evidence is incomplete and limited by the fairly low methodological quality of the systematic reviews, including shortcomings in the study selection and quality assessment process. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2227-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.