Public Health

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...

Tracking the State and Behavior of People in Response to COVID-1 19 Through the Fusion of Multiple Longitudinal Data Streams

Bouzaghrane, M
Obeid, H
Hayes, D
Chen, M
Li, M
Parker, M
Rodriguez, D
Chatman, D
Frick, K
Sengupta, R
Walker, J
2022

The changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of comprehensively considering its impacts and considering changes over time. Most COVID-19 related research addresses narrowly focused research questions and is therefore limited in addressing the complexities created by the interrelated impacts of the pandemic. Such research generally makes use of only one of either 1) actively collected data such as surveys, or 2) passively collected data. While a few studies make use of both actively and passively collected data, only one other study collects it longitudinally...

Characterizing Determinants of Near-Road Ambient Air Quality for an Urban Intersection and a Freeway Site

Frey, HC
Grieshop, AP
Khlystov, A
Bang, JJ
Rouphail, N
Guinness, J
Rodriguez, D
Fuentes, M
Saha, P
Brantley, H
2022

Traffic emissions are an important source of urban air pollution, and exposure to traffic-related air pollution has been associated with various adverse health effects. However, exposure assessment is challenging because traffic-related air pollution is a complex mixture of many particulate and gaseous pollutants and is highly variable across locations and time. Developing accurate models of traffic-related air pollution for use in exposure assessment for epidemiological studies relies on understanding traffic activity and air flow at small spatial scales within cities. Dr. H. Christopher...

Ambient Nitrogen Dioxide Exposures in Latin American Cities

Kephart, JL
Gouveia, N
Rodríguez, D
Alfaro, T
Texcalac-Sangrador, JL
Miranda, J
Bilal, U
Roux, AV Diez
2022
Background and Aim: Ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is a ubiquitous urban air pollutant emitted by fossil fuel combustion. Exposure to NO₂ is associated with respiratory disease and all-cause mortality. Health research on ambient NO₂ is sparse in Latin America, despite high urbanization and the high prevalence of NO₂-associated respiratory diseases in the region. This study aims to describe highly-granular population exposures to ambient NO₂ and urban characteristics associated with NO₂ exposure within 326 Latin American cities. Methods: We leveraged estimates of annual surface NO₂ at 1km²...

City-Level Travel Time and Individual Dietary Consumption in Latin American Cities: Results from the SALURBAL Study

Guimaraes, J
Acharya, B
Moore, K
López-Olmedo, N
Menezes, M
Rodriguez, D
Stern, D
Friche, A
Wang, X
Delclòs-Alió, X
Sarmiento, O
Cardoso, L
2022
There is limited empirical evidence on how travel time affects dietary patterns, and even less in Latin American cities (LACs). Using data from 181 LACs, we investigated whether longer travel times at the city level are associated with lower consumption of vegetables and higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and if this association differs by city size. Travel time was measured as the average city-level travel time during peak hours and city-level travel delay time was measured as the average increase in travel time due to congestion on the street network during peak hours...

Effect of Small Bowel Transit Time on Accuracy of Video Capsule Endoscopy in Evaluating Suspected Small Bowel Bleeding

Mohan, N
Jarrett, S
Pop, A
Rodriguez, D
Dudnick, R
2022

Obscure small bowel bleeding is defined as gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) that is unidentifiable with esophagogastroduodenoscopy and a colonoscopy with video capsule endoscopy (VCE) being the next gold standard step for evaluation. Small bowel transit time (SBTT) is a metric of a VCE study that is defined as the time the capsule takes to travel through the small intestine. To determine if SBTT within the VCE study, correlates to overall detection of obscure small bowel bleeds. Furthermore, we attempted to identify any existing correlation between SBTT and re-bleeding after a negative VCE...

Is City-Level Travel Time by Car Associated with Individual Obesity or Diabetes in Latin American Cities? Evidence from 178 Cities in the SALURBAL Project

Delclos-Alió, X
Rodríguez, D
Olmedo, N
Ferrer, C
Moore, K
Stern, D
Menezes, M
Cardoso, L
Wang, X
Guimaraes, J
Miranda, J
Sarmiento, O
2022
There is growing evidence that longer travel time by private car poses physical and mental risks. Individual-level obesity and diabetes, two of the main public health challenges in low- and middle-income contexts, could be associated to city-level travel times by car. We used individual obesity and diabetes data from national health surveys from individuals in 178 Latin American cities, compiled and harmonized by the SALURBAL project. We calculated city-level travel times by car using the Google Maps Distance Matrix API. We estimated associations between peak hour city-level travel time by...

The Urban Built Environment and Adult BMI, Obesity, and Diabetes in Latin American Cities

Anza-Ramirez, C
Lazo, M
Zafra-Tanaka, J
Avila-Palencia, I
Bilal, U
Hernández-Vásquez, A
Knoll, C
Lopez-Olmedo, N
Mazariegos, M
Moore, K
Rodriguez, D
Sarmiento, O
Stern, D
Tumas, N
Miranda, J
2022

Latin America is the world’s most urbanized region and its heterogeneous urban development may impact chronic diseases. Here, we evaluated the association of built environment characteristics at the sub-city —intersection density, greenness, and population density— and city-level —fragmentation and isolation— with body mass index (BMI), obesity, and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Data from 93,280 (BMI and obesity) and 122,211 individuals (T2D) was analysed across 10 countries. Living in areas with higher intersection density was positively associated with BMI and obesity, whereas living in...

Modification of Temperature-Related Human Mortality by Area-Level Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics in Latin American Cities

Bakhtsiyarava, M
Schinasi, LH
Sánchez, BN
Dronova, I
Kephart, JL
Ju, Y
Gouveia, N
Caiaffa, WT
O'Neill, MS
Yamada, G
Arunachalam, S
Roux, AV Diez
Rodriguez, D
2023

In Latin America, where climate change and rapid urbanization converge, non-optimal ambient temperatures contribute to...

Cars in Latin America: An Exploration of the Urban Landscape and Street Network Correlates of Motorization in 300 Cities

Delclòs-Alió, X
Kanai, C
Soriano, L
Quistberg, D
Ju, Y
Dronova, I
Gouveia, N
Rodriguez, D
2023
Car use creates significant externalities for urban residents worldwide. City characteristics such as the configuration of the urban landscape and street network likely influence the use and attractiveness of automobiles, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas such as Latin America. The understanding of factors associated with motorization can inform planning measures to reduce car usage, and to promote healthier, safer, and more sustainable urban lifestyles. We harmonized official passenger vehicle data from 300 cities with >100,000 inhabitants in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, and...