Environment

Building a Data Platform for Cross-Country Urban Health Studies: The SALURBAL Study

Quistberg, D
Roux, AV Diez
Bilal, U
Moore, K
Ortigoza, A
Rodriguez, D
Sarmiento, O
Frenz, P
Friche, A
Caiaffa, WT
Vives, A
Miranda, J
the SALURBAL group
2018

Studies examining urban health and the environment must ensure comparability of measures across cities and countries. We describe a data platform and process that integrates health outcomes together with physical and social environment data to examine multilevel aspects of health across cities in 11 Latin American countries. We used two complementary sources to identify cities with ≥ 100,000 inhabitants as of 2010 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. We defined cities in three ways: administratively,...

Research on the Effects of Bicycle Education is Limited but Does Point to Higher Rates of Bicycling and Increased Safety

Nachman, Elizabeth R., MCP
Rodríguez, Daniel A., PhD
2019

Increasing the number of people bicycling is often proposed as a solution for addressing environmental and climate-related challenges. Strategies to support more bicycling have traditionally included building bicycle infrastructure, enforcing traffic laws, and educating people about bicycling. Additionally, many cities across California are pursuing Vision Zero, the goal to eliminate traffic death and serious injury in the next decade. In San Francisco, for example, Vision Zero strategies include creating safe streets, safe people and safe vehicles. It also seeks to include training on “...

Physical Disorders and Poor Self-Rated Health in Adults Living in Four Latin American Cities: A Multilevel Approach

Vaz, C
Andrade, A
Silva, U
Rodriguez, D
Wang, X
Moore, K
Friche, A
Roux, AV Diez
Caiaffa, WT
2020
Considering that urban environments may affect self-rated health through behavioral and psychosocial mechanisms, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between self-rated health and perceived urban environment characteristics among adults living in four Latin American cities. Data is from a population-based survey by Development Bank of Latin America, encompassing adults between 20 and 60 years old in Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City, and Panama City. Self-rated health was measured using a single question and the response options were categorized as poor and good. The...

Park Use, Perceived Park Proximity, and Neighborhood Characteristics: Evidence from 11 Cities in Latin America

Moran, M
Rodriguez, D
Cotinez-O'Ryan, A
Miranda, J
2020
This study examines how park use may be associated with perceived park proximity, neighborhood-built environment and perceived social disorder in Latin American cities. The study uses self-reported data from the 2016 CAF survey, including 7,970 urban residents from 11 cities across Latin America. Results show positive graded associations between perceived park proximity and use, holding all others constant. Additional factors that were found to be associated with park use are neighborhood formality and related built-environment characteristics, including paved streets and sidewalks. Park use...

Disentangling Associations Between Vegetation Greenness and Dengue in a Latin American City: Findings and Challenges

Dronova, I
Ribeiro, S
Bruhn, F
Sales, D
Schultes, O
Rodriguez, D
Cunha, M
Lima, L
Caiffa, W
Morais, MHF
Ju, Y
2021

Being a Re-emerging Infectious Disease, dengue causes 390 million cases globally and is prevalent in many urban areas in South America. Understanding the fine-scale relationships between dengue incidence and environmental and socioeconomic factors can guide improved dieses prevention strategies. This ecological study examine the association between dengue incidence and satellite-based vegetation greenness in 3826 census tracts nest in 474 neighborhoods in Belo Horizonte, Brazil during the 2010 dengue epidemic.

Greenness and Education Inequalities in Life Expectancy in Latin American Cities: An Ecological Study

Moran, M
Bilal, U
Dronova, I
Ju, Y
Gouveia, N
Caiaffa, W
Friche, A
Moore, K
Miranda, J
Rodriguez, D
2021
Greenness has been found to be associated with reduced mortality and morbidity and improved wellbeing, with recent evidence further linking it to narrower health inequalities. However, results come mostly from high-income countries and thus might not be generalisable to other settings. In this preliminary analysis, we address this gap by examining whether education inequalities in life expectancy in Latin American cities vary by area-level greenness.We used data from the Salud Urbana en America Latina (SALURBAL) study. The analysis sample included 28 large cities in nine Latin American...

Health and Environmental Co-benefits of City Urban Form in Latin America: An Ecological Study

Avila-Palencia
Sánchez, BN
Rodriguez, DA
Ferrer, C
Miranda, J
Gouveia, N
Bilal, U
Useche, A
Wilches-Mogollon, M
Moore, K
Sarmiento, O
Roux, AV Diez
2021
Urban design features are often studied in relation to health and behavioural outcomes. They can also have major implications for environmental outcomes. However, the impact of these features on both health and environmental outcomes (co-benefits) is rarely examined. We investigated how urban landscape and street design profiles are related to jointly occurring health and environmental outcomes in Latin America cities. We used data from the Salud Urbana en América Latina (SALURBAL) project, which has compiled and harmonised data on built environment, environmental...

The Impact of Population Mobility on COVID-19 Incidence and Socioeconomic Disparities at the Sub-city Level in 314 Latin American Cities

Kephart, JL
Delclòs-Alió, X
Bilal, U
Sarmiento, O
Barrientos-Gutierrez, T
Rodriguez, D
Ramirez-Zea, M
Quistberg, A
Roux, AV Diez
2021

Little is known about the impact of changes in mobility at the sub-city level on subsequent COVID-19 incidence or the contribution of mobility to socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 incidence. Methods We compiled aggregated mobile phone location data, COVID-19 confirmed cases, and features of the urban and social environments to analyze linkages between population mobility, COVID-19 incidence, and educational attainment at the sub-city level among cities with >100,000 inhabitants in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico from March to August 2020. We used mixed effects...

Ambient Fine Particulate Matter in Latin American Cities: Levels, Population Exposure, and Associated Urban Factors

Gouveia, N
Kephart, J
Dronova, I
McClure, L
Granados, J
Rodriguez, D
Bentancourt, R
O'Ryan, A
Texalac-Sangrador, J
Martinez-Folgar, K
Roux, AV Diez
2021
Exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5) is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Yet few studies have examined patterns of population exposure and...

The Equigenic Effect of Greenness on the Association Between Education with Life Expectancy and Mortality in 28 Large Latin American Cities

Moran, M
Bilal, U
Dronova, I
Ju, Y
Gouveia, N
Caiaffa, W
Friche, A
Moore,K
Miranda, J
Rodriguez, D
2021
Recent studies highlight the equigenic potential of greenspaces by showing narrower socioeconomic health inequalities in greener areas. However, results to date have been inconsistent and derived from high-income countries. We examined whether urban greenness modifies the associations between area-level education, as a proxy for socioeconomic status, and life expectancy and cause-specific mortality in Latin American cities. We included 28 large cities, >137 million inhabitants, in nine Latin American countries, comprising 671 sub-city units, for 2012–2016. Socioeconomic status was assessed...