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The geographic distribution of obesity by census tract among 59?767 insured adults in King County, WA.

ABSTRACT: To evaluate the geographic concentration of adult obesity prevalence by census tract (CT) in King County, WA, in relation to social and economic factors.Measured heights and weights from 59?767 adult men and women enrolled in the Group Health (GH) healthcare system were used to estimate obesity prevalence at the CT level. CT-level measures of socioeconomic status (SES) were median home values of owner-occupied housing units, percent of residents with a college degree and median household incomes, all drawn from the 2000 Census. Spatial regression models were used to assess the relation between CT-level obesity prevalence and socioeconomic variables.Smoothed CT obesity prevalence, obtained using an Empirical Bayes tool, ranged from 16.2-43.7% (a 2.7-fold difference). The spatial pattern of obesity was non-random, showing a concentration in south and southeast King County. In spatial regression models, CT-level home values and college education were more strongly associated with obesity than household incomes. For each additional $100?000 in median home values, CT obesity prevalence was 2.3% lower. The three SES factors together explained 70% of the variance in CT obesity prevalence after accounting for population density, race/ethnicity, age and spatial dependence.To our knowledge, this is the first report to show major social disparities in adult obesity prevalence at the CT scale that is based, moreover, on measured heights and weights. Analyses of data at sufficiently fine geographic scale are needed to guide targeted local interventions to stem the obesity epidemic.

SUBMITTER: Drewnowski A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3955743 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The geographic distribution of obesity by census tract among 59 767 insured adults in King County, WA.

Drewnowski A A Rehm C D CD Arterburn D D

International journal of obesity (2005) 20130916 6

<h4>Objective</h4>To evaluate the geographic concentration of adult obesity prevalence by census tract (CT) in King County, WA, in relation to social and economic factors.<h4>Methods and design</h4>Measured heights and weights from 59 767 adult men and women enrolled in the Group Health (GH) healthcare system were used to estimate obesity prevalence at the CT level. CT-level measures of socioeconomic status (SES) were median home values of owner-occupied housing units, percent of residents with ...[more]

PMID: 24037278

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Project description:Bronchiolitis and pneumonia are leading causes of pediatric hospitalizations. Identifying geographic patterns in hospitalization rates across small geographic areas could be particularly relevant to targeted patient-level and population-level health care.To determine whether lower respiratory tract infection hospitalization rates varied geographically across a single county and whether such variability was associated with socioeconomic conditions.Cross-sectional, population-based study of children hospitalized at one institution for lower respiratory tract infections between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2013. The setting was Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, a large, academic, stand-alone pediatric facility located in Hamilton County, Ohio. During the study period, 99.6% of in-county children hospitalized for lower respiratory tract infections were admitted to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Participants were children younger than 2 years who were hospitalized with bronchiolitis and children younger than 18 years who were hospitalized with pneumonia. Patients were identified using discharge diagnosis codes and then geocoded to their home census tract.Primary exposures, linked to each geocoded patient, included census tract-level socioeconomic measures obtained from the 2008 to 2012 American Community Survey (eg, adult educational attainment, unemployment, and poverty). Patient-level variables examined included demographics, presence of a complex chronic condition, length of stay, and cost.We calculated bronchiolitis and pneumonia hospitalization rates for Hamilton County and for each of 222 in-county census tracts. Associations between hospitalization rate quintiles and underlying socioeconomic conditions were assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Geographic clustering was assessed using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic.There were 1495 bronchiolitis hospitalizations and 1231 pneumonia hospitalizations during the study period. The county rates were 17.5 (range across census tracts, 0-71.4) hospitalizations per 1000 children per year for bronchiolitis and 1.6 (range across census tracts, 0-4.3) hospitalizations per 1000 children per year for pneumonia. There was significant variation in the median hospitalization rates by census tract quintile for bronchiolitis (32.8, 20.8, 14.0, 10.4, and 5.1 per 1000) and for pneumonia (3.3, 2.1, 1.4, 0.9, and 0.3 per 1000). There were also significant, graded differences in socioeconomic measures by hospitalization rate quintile. Hot spots were localized to inner-city, impoverished neighborhoods.Bronchiolitis and pneumonia hospitalization rates varied considerably in ways that were related to underlying socioeconomic conditions. Clinical and public health interventions, targeted accordingly, could improve patient-level and population-level management of acute conditions at a reduced cost.

Dataset Information

The geographic distribution of obesity by census tract among 59?767 insured adults in King County, WA.

Publications

The geographic distribution of obesity by census tract among 59 767 insured adults in King County, WA.

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