Public Health

The 2019 Conference on Health and Active Transportation: Research Needs and Opportunities

Berrigan, D
Dannenberg, A
Lee, M
Rodgers, K
Wojcik, J
Wali, B
Tribby, C
Buehler, R
Sallis, J
Roberts, J
Steedly, A
Peng, B
Eisenberg, Y
Rodriguez, D
2021
Active transportation (AT) is widely viewed as an important target for increasing participation in aerobic physical activity and improving health, while simultaneously addressing pollution and climate change through reductions in motor vehicular emissions. In recent years, progress in increasing AT has stalled in some countries and, furthermore, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created new AT opportunities while also exposing the barriers and health inequities related to AT for some populations. This paper describes the results of the December 2019 Conference on Health and Active...

Extreme Temperatures and Mortality in 326 Latin American Cities

Kephart, JL
Sánchez, BN
Moore, K
Schinasi, LH
Bakhtsiyarava, M
Ju, Y
Gouveia, N
Caiaffa, WT
Dronova, I
Arunachalam, S
Roux, AV Diez
Rodriguez, D
2021

Climate change and urbanization are rapidly increasing human exposure to extreme ambient temperatures, yet few studies have examined the impact of temperature on mortality across Latin America, where 80% of residents live in urban areas. Methods We used distributed lag nonlinear conditional Poisson models to estimate city-specific associations between daily temperatures above (“heat”) and below (“cold”) each city-specific minimum mortality temperature and all-cause mortality, overall and stratified by age and cause of death. We estimated the percentage of total deaths attributable to heat...

Accessibility, Mobility, and Transportation Innovations in Latin America and the Caribbean: Successes and Areas for Improvement

Rodriguez, Daniel
2022

High traffic congestion and travel times in the cities of Latin America and the Caribbean have significant impacts on air quality, population health, and well-being. To address these challenges, policy and infrastructure innovations have been proposed and implemented over recent decades. This chapter reviews the current state of mobility and accessibility in the region, with special attention to innovative practices and their impacts on accessibility, especially for low-income populations. Specifically, bus rapid transit and aerial tram infrastructure as well as policy innovations such as...

Mortality Amenable to Healthcare in Latin American Cities: A Cross-sectional Study Examining Between-country Variation in Amenable Mortality and the Role of Urban Metrics

Mullachery, PH
Rodriguez, D
Miranda, J
Lopez-Olmedo, N
Martinez-Folgar, K
Barreto, M
Roux, AV Diez
Bilal, U
2022

This study examined the variation in city-level amenable mortality, i.e. mortality due to conditions that can be mitigated in the presence of timely and effective healthcare, in 363 Latin American cities and measured associations between amenable-mortality rates and urban metrics. We used death records from 363 cities with populations of >100 000 people in nine Latin American countries from 2010 to 2016. We calculated sex-specific age-adjusted amenable-mortality rates per 100 000. We fitted multilevel linear models with cities nested within countries and estimated associations between...

Urban Landscape and Street-design Factors Associated with Road-Traffic Mortality in Latin America between 2010 and 2016 (SALURBAL): An Ecological Study

Quistberg, D
Hessel, P
Rodriguez, DA
Sarmiento, OL
Bilal, U
Caiaffa, WT
Miranda, J
de Pina, M
Hernandez-Vazquez, A
Roux, AV Diez
2022
Road-traffic injuries are a key cause of death and disability in low-income and middle-income countries, but the effect of city characteristics on road-traffic mortality is unknown in these countries. The aim of this study was to determine associations between city-level built environment factors and road-traffic mortality in large Latin American cities. We selected cities from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Peru; cities included in the analysis had a population of at least 100 000 people. We extracted data for road-traffic deaths...

Is Self-reported Park Proximity Associated with Perceived Social Disorder? Findings from Eleven Cities in Latin America

Moran, M
Rodríguez, D
Cortinez-O'Ryan, A
Miranda, JJ
2022
Parks and greenspaces can enhance personal health in various ways, including among others, through psychological restoration and improved well-being. However, under certain circumstances, parks may also have adverse effects by providing isolated and hidden spaces for non-normative and crime-related activities. This study uses a survey conducted by the Development Bank of Latin America in a cross-...

Associations of Urban Environment Features with Hypertension and Blood Pressure Across 230 Latin American Cities

Avila-Palencia, I
Rodriguez, D
Miranda, J
Moore, K
Gouveia, N
Moran, M
Caiaffa, W
Roux, AV Diez
2022
Features of the urban physical environment may be linked to the development of high blood pressure, a leading risk factor for global burden of disease. We examined associations of urban physical environment features with hypertension and blood pressure measures in adults across 230 Latin American cities. In this cross-sectional study we used health, social, and built environment data from the SALud URBana en América Latina (SALURBAL) project. The individual-level outcomes were hypertension and levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The exposures were city and subcity built...

Urban Scaling of Health Outcomes: a Scoping Review

McCulley, EM
Mullachery, PH
Ortigoza, AF
Rodríguez, DA
Roux, AV Diez
Bilal, U
2022

Urban scaling is a framework that describes how city-level characteristics scale with variations in city size. This scoping review mapped the existing evidence on the urban scaling of health outcomes to identify gaps and inform future research. Using a structured search strategy, we identified and reviewed a total of 102 studies, a majority set in high-income countries using diverse city definitions. We found several historical studies that examined the dynamic relationships between city size and mortality occurring during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In more recent years...

City-level Impact of Extreme Temperatures and Mortality in Latin America

Kephart, JL
Sánchez, BN
Moore, J
Schinasi, L
Bakhtsiyarava, M
Ju, Y
Rodriguez, D
Gouveia, N
Caiaffa, W
Dronova, I
Arunachalam, S
Roux, AV Diez
2022

Climate change and urbanization are rapidly increasing human exposure to extreme ambient temperatures, yet few studies have examined temperature and mortality in Latin America. We conducted a nonlinear, distributed-lag, longitudinal analysis of daily ambient temperatures and mortality among 326 Latin American cities between 2002 and 2015. We observed 15,431,532 deaths among ≈2.9 billion person-years of risk. The excess death fraction of total deaths was 0.67% (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.58–0.74%) for heat-related deaths and 5.09% (95% CI 4.64–5.47%) for cold-related deaths. The...

Post-traumatic stress symptoms in parents of adolescents hospitalized with Anorexia nervosa

Timko, CA
Dennis, NJ
Mears, C
Rodriguez, D
Fitzpatrick, KK
Peebles, R
2022

The current study was a planned secondary analysis to examine post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in parents of youth hospitalized for medical stabilization due to anorexia nervosa (AN). Questionnaires were administered to 47 parents (34 mothers, 13 fathers; 10 parental dyads) after admission; follow-up occurred at discharge and 4 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months post-discharge. PTSS were present in the majority of mothers (55.9%) and fathers (61.5%). PTSS were not associated with illness severity, but were associated with parental report of mood symptoms, avoidance, inflexibility, and...