Use of community-level data in the National Children’s Study to establish the representativeness of segment selection in the Queens Vanguard Site

Andrew Rundle,Ezra Susser,James Quinn,Leonardo Trasande,Virginia A Rauh,Gina Lovasi,Howard F Andrews

doi:10.1186/1476-072x-11-18

Abstract

BackgroundThe WHO Multiple Exposures Multiple Effects (MEME) framework identifies community contextual variables as central to the study of childhood health. Here we identify multiple domains of neighborhood context, and key variables describing the dimensions of these domains, for use in the National Children’s Study (NCS) site in Queens. We test whether the neighborhoods selected for NCS recruitment, are representative of the whole of Queens County, and whether there is sufficient variability across neighborhoods for meaningful studies of contextual variables.MethodsNine domains (demographic, socioeconomic, households, birth rated, transit, playground/greenspace, safety and social disorder, land use, and pollution sources) and 53 indicator measures of the domains were identified. Geographic information systems were used to create community-level indicators for US Census tracts containing the 18 study neighborhoods in Queens selected for recruitment, using US Census, New York City Vital Statistics, and other sources of community-level information. Mean and inter-quartile range values for each indicator were compared for Tracts in recruitment and non-recruitment neighborhoods in Queens.ResultsAcross the nine domains, except in a very few instances, the NCS segment-containing tracts (N = 43) were not statistically different from those 597 populated tracts in Queens not containing portions of NCS segments; variability in most indicators was comparable in tracts containing and not containing segments.ConclusionsIn a diverse urban setting, the NCS segment selection process succeeded in identifying recruitment areas that are, as a whole, representative of Queens County, for a broad range of community-level variables.

Highlights

The World Health Organization (WHO) Multiple Exposures Multiple Effects (MEME) framework identifies community contextual variables as central to the study of childhood health
In applying the MEME framework to the NCS, we have identified multiple domains of neighborhood context and key variables describing the dimensions of these domains that can be used in the National Children’s Study (NCS) site in Queens and many of which can be used throughout the NCS
We show that the selection of block groups to form the NCS segments in Queens using a short list of neighborhood contextual indicators produced segments that are representative of Queens County, across many neighborhood variables

Summary

Introduction

The WHO Multiple Exposures Multiple Effects (MEME) framework identifies community contextual variables as central to the study of childhood health. We identify multiple domains of neighborhood context, and key variables describing the dimensions of these domains, for use in the National Children’s Study (NCS) site in Queens. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified neighborhood contextual exposures as a central element in its Multiple Exposures Multiple Effects (MEME) framework for studying childhood health [5]. Multiple neighborhood contextual characteristics have been shown to affect a range of developmental and health outcomes across childhood and adolescence, with cognitive functioning being one of the most widely investigated. In addition to effects on cognitive function, a growing literature demonstrates neighborhood effects on both physical and mental health and behavior. Among the mental health and behavioral outcomes influenced by neighborhood conditions (primarily SES-related), are psychological distress [33], substance use [34], and behavioral problems [10,35,36]

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