GEOSPATIAL FOOD ENVIRONMENT EXPOSURE, OBESITY, AND FOOD SECURITY AMONG LOW INCOME BALTIMORE CITY CHILDREN AND CAREGIVERS
Embargo until
2024-05-01
Date
2020-01-27
Authors
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Publisher
Johns Hopkins University
Abstract
Background.
In recent years, the volume geospatial food environment research has increased sharply. However, the extent to which methodological decisions influence associations between food environment exposure, BMI, and food security, has been understudied.
Research Aims.
I sought to characterize the geospatial exposure to food retailers for a sample of households in low-income areas of Baltimore City, Maryland. Then, to examine the cross-sectional associations between those exposures and: adults’ BMI, children’s BMI z-scores, and household food security. And lastly, I compared the findings across several data sources, data extraction, and data processing methods.
Methods.
Participants were children ages 10 to 14 (n = 335) and their caregivers (n = 324). Food retailer listings were obtained from: (1) ReferenceUSA, (2) the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, and (3) the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF). Then, a Combined Database, that contained all available data, was created. Exposure was assessed as counts of food retailers within a 0.25, 0.5, and one-mile Euclidian distances of participants’ homes, and as distances to the closest retailers. Two data processing approaches were compared. One was time intensive and resulted in extensive revisions to the original data. The other was less time intensive and resulted in minimal revisions.
Results.
With few exceptions, the choice of data sources and data processing methods produced large differences in estimates of participants’ exposures, especially to food retailers such as supermarkets. However, for caregivers, no statistically significant associations were detected between most geospatial food environment exposure measures and BMI. Surprisingly, greater counts of supermarkets and fruit and vegetable specialty stores near participants’ homes, were associated with lower food security. For children, greater number of corner stores, convenience stores, gas stations, carryouts, and restaurants near homes, was statistically significantly associated with slightly higher BMI z-scores. Living further from those stores was associated with lower BMI z-scores. Overall, findings were consistent across data sources and data processing methods.
Conclusions.
The choice of data sources and data processing methods produced large differences in estimates of participants’ exposures to certain store types, but had less impact on the associations with the study outcomes.
Description
Keywords
obesity, Baltimore, children, food environment, supermarkets, geospatial, food security, food insecurity, income