How to Achieve a Healthy City: a Scoping Review with Ten City Examples
AbstractThis scoping review of the literature explores the following question: what systematic measures are needed to achieve a healthy city? The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests 11 characteristics of a healthy city. Measures contributing to these characteristics are extracted and classified into 29 themes. Implementation of some of these measures is illustrated by examples from Freiburg, Greater Vancouver, Singapore, Seattle, New York City, London, Nantes, Exeter, Copenhagen, and Washington, DC. The identified measures and examples indicate that a healthy city is a system of healthy sectors. A discussion section s...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 18, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Systematic Review of Neighborhood Factors Impacting HIV Care Continuum Participation in the United States
AbstractSocial determinants have been increasingly implicated in accelerating HIV vulnerability, particularly for disenfranchised communities. Among these determinants, neighborhood factors play an important role in undermining HIV prevention. However, there has been little research comprehensively examining the impact of neighborhood factors on HIV care continuum participation in the US. To address this, we conducted a systematic review (PROSPERO registration number CRD42022359787) to determine neighborhood factors most frequently associated with diminished HIV care continuum participation. Peer-reviewed studies were incl...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 13, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Effect of In utero Exposure to Air Pollution on Adulthood Hospitalizations
This study found that a 5-day pollution exposure event while in utero significantly increased respiratory-related hospitalizations at ages 40 to 69 but had no impact on hospitalizations due to circulatory, neoplasms, mental health, and nervous system conditions. (Source: Journal of Urban Health)
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 8, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Reciprocal Neighborhood Dynamics in Gun Violence Exposure, Community Health, and Concentrated Disadvantage in One Hundred US Cities
AbstractGun violence imparts a tremendous human and financial toll on local communities. Researchers have documented extensive mental and physical health consequences of generalized violence exposure but few studies have analyzed the particular impacts of gun violence on community well-being using nationally comprehensive data. We leverage a unique database of almost 16,000 neighborhoods in 100 US cities (2014 –2019) to examine how year-over-year rates of gun violence correspond to overall neighborhood well-being and three aspects of community health: (1) health behaviors, (2) physical and mental health status, and (3) h...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Church Closings Were Associated with Higher COVID-19 Infection Rates: Implications for Community Health Equity
This study investigates the changes in physical church closings years 2013 to 2019 in New York City (NYC), Philadelphia, and Baltimore and the association with COVID-19 infection rates. We applied Bayesian spatial binomial models to analyze confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of February 28, 2022, in each city at the zip code-level. A one unit increase in the number of churches closed corresponded to a 5% higher COVID-19 infection rate, in NYC (rate ratio = 1.05, 95% credible interval = 1.02–1.08%), where the association was significant. Church closings appears to be an important indicator of neighborhood social vuln...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
A Good Farewell? Positive Exits from Federal Housing Assistance and Lower Acute Healthcare Utilization
AbstractLittle is known regarding the health outcomes of people who exit from housing assistance and if that experience varies by the circumstances under which a person exits. We asked two questions: (1) does the type of exit from housing assistance matter for healthcare utilization? And (2) how does each exit type compare to remaining in housing assistance in terms of healthcare utilization? This retrospective cohort study of 5550 exits between 2012 and 2018 used data from two large, urban public housing authorities in King County, Washington. Exposures were exiting from housing assistance and type of exit (positive, neut...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
The Effect of Gun-Free School Zones on Crimes Committed with a Firearm in Saint Louis, Missouri
The objective of this study was to use a cross-sectional, multi-group controlled ecological study design in St. Louis, MO city that compared the counts of crimes committed with a firearm occurring in gun-free school zones compared to a contiguous area immediately surrounding the gun-free school zone (i.e., gun-allowing zones) in 2019. Gun-free school zones were measured and analyzed in two ways. In the primary analysis, boundaries of the tax parcels were used for each school as the beginning of the gun-free school zone. Results from this analysis, after adjustment for pair-matching and confounding, were null. In the second...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Urban Health Scholarship and Practice in the Post-Pandemic Era
AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic highlighted several challenges that cities face that can affect the health of urban populations. These challenges are an opportunity for sharpening of our urban health scholarship, to rethink the questions the field should be asking, and how the answers to those questions should guide practice. The central role of inequities in cities, the politics of urban health, communication for health, the deployment of health care, and the future of urban living are all areas that merit attention by scholars and practitioners in the field in coming decades. (Source: Journal of Urban Health)
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Austerity, Health and Public Safety in Low-Income Neighborhoods: Grassroots Responses to the Decline of Local Services in Southeast England
This article uses ethnographic and qualitative research to explore the health implications and social responses of a low-income neighborhood in Southeast England, to more than a decade of austerity policies and declining institutional and welfare support. Findings examine how cuts to public services and welfare programs alongside changes to the area ’s social structure shape resident’s perceptions of health risks and threats. Residents pointed to poor levels of mental health that were exacerbated by financial insecurity, the closure of community facilities and difficulties accessing support and professional help. An in...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - December 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Temporal Trends in Telehealth Availability in Mental Health Treatment Settings: Differences in Growth by State Rurality, 2015 –2020
AbstractWe sought to investigate temporal trends in telehealth availability among outpatient mental health treatment facilities and differences in the pace of telehealth growth by state urbanicity and rurality. We used the National Mental Health Services Survey (2015 –2020) to identify outpatient mental health treatment facilities in the US (N = 28,989 facilities; 2015n = 5,018; 2020n = 4,889). We used logistic regression to model telehealth, predicted by time, state rurality (1 to 10% rural, 10 to < 20%, 20 to < 30%, or\(\ge\) 30%), and their interaction, and adjusted for relevant covariates....
Source: Journal of Urban Health - November 27, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Barriers and Facilitators to HIV Service Access among Hispanic/Latino Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in Metropolitan Atlanta —a Qualitative Analysis
AbstractHispanic/Latino persons are disproportionately impacted by HIV in the US, and HIV diagnoses among Hispanic/Latino men in Georgia have increased over the past decade, particularly in metropolitan Atlanta. In 2022, the Georgia Department of Public Health detected five clusters of rapid HIV transmission centered among Hispanic/Latino gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (HLMSM) in metropolitan Atlanta. We conducted in-depth interviews with 65 service providers and 29 HLMSM to identify barriers and facilitators to HIV service access for HLMSM. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and translated, i...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - November 27, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Association Between Air Pollution and Coronary Heart Disease Hospitalizations in Lanzhou City, 2013 –2020: a Time Series Analysis
This study aimed to explore the relationship between air pollutants and the number of hospitalized patients with CHD in Lanzhou, and we collected daily data on the number of hospitalized patients with CHD, daily air pollutants, and meteorological factors from 2013 to 2020. A distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) combined with a quasi-Poisson regression model was applied to evaluate the relationship between air pollutants and the number of hospitalized patients with CHD. The results indicated that the hysteresis effect of all pollutants except O38h reached its maximum at lag3, and the relative risk of coronary heart diseas...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - November 27, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
Associations between a Novel Measure of Census Tract-Level Credit Insecurity and Frequent Mental Distress in US Urban Areas, 2020
We examined associations between a novel, small-area, multidimensional credit insecurity index (CII), and the prevalence of self-reported frequent mental distress across US cities in 2020. The census tract-level CII was developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York using Census population information and a nationally representative sample of anonymized Equifax credit report data. The CII was calculated for tracts in 766 cities displayed on the City Health Dashboard at the time of analysis, predominantly representing cities with over 50,000 residents. The CII combined data on tract-level participation in the formal cred...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - November 27, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: research
