Public Health

Role of Built Environments in Physical Activity, Obesity, and Cardiovascular Disease

Sallis, JF
Floyd, MF
Rodriguez, DA
Saelens, BE
2012
In industrialized nations like the United States and Sweden, the vast majority of adults do not meet the physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes per week.1 Inactive lifestyles put most adults at risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes mellitus, obesity, some cancers, osteoporosis, and psychological disorders.2 Physical activity can be...

Exploring a Public Health Perspective on Pedestrian Planning

Evenson, KR
Satinsky, SB
Rodriguez, DA
Aytur, SA
2011
A pedestrian plan is a public document that explains a community’s vision and goals for future pedestrian activity. This study explored whether involvement by public health professionals in the development of pedestrian plans was associated with certain characteristics of the plan (vision, goals, identified programs, and evaluation). This study identified, collected, and analyzed content of all pedestrian plans in North Carolina through 2008. Among the 46 plans, 39% reported involvement by public health professionals in their development. Overall, 72% of pedestrian plans included a vision...

Mindfulness, Time Affluence, and Journey-based Affect: Exploring Relationships

LaJeunesse, S
Rodriguez, D
2012
Behavioral travel research has neglected to examine the role of mindfulness in the context of the work commute. Mindfulness is a psychological construct that has been associated with improvements to mental health, social engagement, and behavioral regulation. We examined ways in which users of different travel modes perceive their journey to work from an affective stance, their dispositional mindfulness, and time affluence. Using survey data from 786 university employees, we estimated a structural equation model capturing the direct and indirect relationships between mindfulness and the...

Cured Meat Consumption Increases Risk of Readmission in COPD patients

Batlle, J De
Mendez, M
Romieu, I
Balcells, E
Benet, M
Donair-Gonzales, D
Ferrer, J
Orozco-Levi, M
Anto, J
Garcia-Aymerich, J
the PAC-COPD Study Group
2012

Recent studies have shown that a high dietary intake of cured meat increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) development. However, its potential effects on COPD evolution have not been tested. We aimed to assess the association between dietary intake of cured meat and risk of COPD readmission in COPD patients. 274 COPD patients were recruited during their first COPD admission between 2004 and 2006, provided information on dietary intake of cured meat during the previous 2 yrs, and were followed until December 31, 2007 (median follow-up 2.6 yrs). Associations...

Evidence for Validity of Five Secondary Data Sources for Enumerating Retail Food Outlets in Seven American Indian Communities in North Carolina

Fleischhacker, SE
Rodriguez, DA
Evenson, KR
Henley, A
Gizlice, Z
Soto, D
Ramachandran, G
2012

Most studies on the local food environment have used secondary sources to describe the food environment, such as government food registries or commercial listings (e.g., Reference USA). Most of the studies exploring evidence for validity of secondary retail food data have used on-site verification and have not conducted analysis by data source (e.g., sensitivity of Reference USA) or by food outlet type (e.g., sensitivity of Reference USA for convenience stores). Few studies have explored the food environment in American Indian communities. To advance the science on measuring the food...

Abstract P298: An Obesogenic Neighborhood Environment Factor Score and Changes in BMI in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study

Meyer, KA
Duffey, KJ
Rodriguez, DA
Lewis, CE
Kiefe, CI
2013
We sought to identify obesogenic elements of the neighborhood environment using 15 years of individual-level and GIS-derived data in the CARDIA cohort (n=5,115; aged 18-30 at year 0, 1985/86), and to test associations with 15-year BMI change. We first used reduced rank regression (RRR) to derive a weighted combination (factor score) of environmental variables that explained variability in obesity-promoting diet and physical activity (PA) behaviors. RRR outcome variables were diet quality, fast food consumption, and PA; predictors of these behaviors were neighborhood-level indicators of...

Potential for Increasing Health-Beneficial Participation in Cycling for Transportation: A “Stages of Change” Perspective on Barcelona’s Bike Sharing Program

Nazelle, A De
Curto, A
Donaire-Gonzalez, D
Mendez, MA
2013
The multiple benefits of active transportation, from non-communicable disease prevention to climate change mitigation, have led to increasing interests in developing multi-disciplinary health impact assessments (HIA) of walking and cycling strategies. However a fundamental uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of policies to change travel and physical activity behaviour remains. Our study aimed to assess the ability of bike sharing programs to facilitate contemplation and change in individuals to begin cycling for travel purposes. Methods: Participants living and working or attending school...

Validity of Secondary Retail Food Outlet Data: A Systematic Review

Fleischhacker, SE
Evenson, KR
Sharkey, J
Pitts, SBJ
Rodriguez, DA
2013

Improving access to healthy foods is a promising strategy to prevent nutrition-related chronic diseases. To characterize retail food environments and identify areas with limited retail access, researchers, government programs, and community advocates have primarily used secondary retail food outlet data sources (e.g., InfoUSA or government food registries). To advance the state of the...

Change in Walking and Body Mass Index Following Residential Relocation: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Hirsch, JA
Roux, AV Diez
Moore, KA
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
2014

We investigated whether moving to neighborhoods with closer proximity of destinations and greater street connectivity was associated with more walking, a greater probability of meeting the “Every Body Walk!” campaign goals (≥ 150 minutes/week of walking), and reductions in body mass index (BMI). We linked longitudinal data from 701 participants, who moved between 2 waves of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (2004–2012), to a neighborhood walkability measure (Street Smart Walk Score) for each residential location. We used fixed-effects models to estimate if changes in walkability...

Energy Balance in Adolescent Girls: The Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls Cohort

Cohen, DA
Ghosh‐Dastidar, B
Conway, TL
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
Beckman, R
Elder, JP
Pickrel, J
Lytle, L
2013

To study correlates of change in BMI percentile and body fat among adolescent girls. A longitudinal prospective study following 265 girls from the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG) cohort measured in 8th grade and during 10 and 11th grade or 11th and 12th grade. Twice during 2009-2011 girls wore an accelerometer and completed a food frequency questionnaire and 7-day diary documenting trips and food eaten away from home and school. Physical activity, BMI, and percent body fat were objectively measured at each time point. Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) declined,...