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Recent Publications
Category Archives: Methods
Machine Learning Approaches for Measuring Neighborhood Environments in Epidemiologic Studies
We recently published a review article in Current Epidemiology Reports describing the use of machine learning to measure neighborhood environments in epidemiologic studies. Innovations in information technology, initiatives by local governments to share administrative data, and growing inventories of data … Continue reading
Posted in Methods, Street View
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Maintaining patient privacy while geocoding patient addresses: Do Not Use R to Geocode
Imagine if a clinical researcher were to disclose a list of patient addresses to a third-party – government agency, for profit company or not-for-profit entity – that was outside of their hospital or health system. Imagine the researcher then publicly … Continue reading
Posted in Health Care Access, Methods, Tools
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Improving the measurement of Neighborhood Physical Disorder
Neighborhood audit methods (AKA Systematic Social Observation) are often used to create measures of neighborhood built and social environments. But even with the enhanced efficiency of virtual neighborhood audit methods using CANVAS-Street View, it is generally not possible to collect … Continue reading
Posted in CANVAS, Methods, Street View, Tools
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Newly Funded Work on Pedestrian Injury
We have recently been funded by NIH to conduct a four-year study of how urban design, the locations of alcohol selling establishments, night life districts and locations of services for the homeless influence pedestrian fatality risk. We will be conducting … Continue reading
Measuring Neighborhood Walkability across Communities in the U.S. Over the Past Three Decades
The evidence on links between neighborhood walkability and physical activity and body mass index remains limited because there have been few longitudinal studies with repeated measures of neighborhood walkability and health behavior and outcomes. While large cohort studies with long-term … Continue reading
How and where patterns of activity among older adults change over time
At BEH, we’re interested in how your residential neighborhood affects how physically active you are. But we’ve come to understand that being active as not just one thing and not merely a matter of expending calories. That is, walking is … Continue reading
Posted in Adults, Methods, Physical Activity, Physical Disorder
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Commandments for Variable Naming and Data Management
As we launched another multifaceted geographic data linkage study our multi-institution team, that includes researchers at Drexel University, Columbia University and the University of Washington, has developed a set of commandments to streamline and harmonize our data management, variable naming … Continue reading
Posted in Methods, Tools
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Steve Mooney receives Poster Award at Epidemiology Congress of the Americas 2016
Steve Mooney, a recently minted PhD who did his doctoral work with the BEH group, won a best poster presentation award at the 2016 Epidemiology Congress of the Americas for his work on the Neighborhood Environment-Wide Association Study design. Dr. … Continue reading
Can Big Data get us Better Estimates of Neighborhood Disorder?
At the Built Environment and Health group, we try hard to measure neighborhood characteristics accurately. We systematically audit Street View imagery, we use LiDAR scans to assess tree canopy, and we use business registration records to profile neighborhood retail. A … Continue reading
Posted in Methods, Physical Disorder, Street View
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Maintaining Human Subject’s Protections in Neighborhood Health Effects Research
We recently published a commentary in the American Journal of Public Health describing the concerns we have for protecting study subject anonymity with the use of online geographic and data tools in neighborhood health effects research. Examples of neighborhood data available … Continue reading
Posted in Methods, Tools, Uncategorized
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Built Environment and Health Research Group 