Abstract
BackgroundIn this study, we determine the feasibility of using electronic medical record (EMR) data to determine obesity prevalence at the census tract level in El Paso County, Texas, located on the U.S.-Mexico border.Methods2012–2018 Body Mass Index (BMI kg/m2) data from a large university clinic system in was geocoded and aggregated to a census tract level. After cleaning and removing duplicate EMR and unusable data, 143,524 patient records were successful geocoded. Maps were created to assess representativeness of EMR data across census tracts, within El Paso County. Additionally, maps were created to display the distribution of obesity across the same geography.ResultsEMR data represented all but one El Paso census tract. Representation ranged from 0.7% to 34.9%. Greatest representation were among census tracts in and around clinics. The mean EMR data BMI (kg/m2) was 30.1, this is approximately 6% less than the 36.0% estimated for El Paso County using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Study (BRFSS) estimate. At the census tract level, obesity prevalence ranged from 26.6 to 57.6%. The highest obesity prevalence were in areas that tended to be less affluent, with a higher concentration of immigrants, poverty and Latino ethnic concentration.ConclusionsEMR data use for obesity surveillance is feasible in El Paso County, Texas, a U.S.-Mexico border community. Findings indicate substantial obesity prevalence variation between census tracts within El Paso County that may be associated with population distributions related to socioeconomics.
Highlights
In this study, we determine the feasibility of using electronic medical record (EMR) data to determine obesity prevalence at the census tract level in El Paso County, Texas, located on the U.S.-Mexico border
The percent of EMR patients per census tract ranged from 0.7% to as high as 34.9%
Patients were most represented in the Northeast, Downtown/Lower Valley and Far Eastside of El Paso County and in and around clinic catchment areas
Summary
We determine the feasibility of using electronic medical record (EMR) data to determine obesity prevalence at the census tract level in El Paso County, Texas, located on the U.S.-Mexico border. Obesity prevalence has reached an epidemic level across the United States, significantly increasing since the 1990’s [1,2,3] This major risk factor for many chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and certain cancers, disproportionately affecting Latino populations [4, 5]. These and other data sources utilize national cross-sectional health survey methods to collect data on lifestyle behaviors among other health-related metrics From these data sources, food environment, built environment, Salinas et al BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (2022) 22:46 segregation, poverty and other contextual risk factors for obesity have been well-established for Latino and other health disparate communities [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Relying on countylevel data that is available can make prevention efforts for under-resourced communities futile, since they provide aggregated estimates, not taking into account important variations within a county or city
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