Building a Data Platform for Cross-Country Urban Health Studies: the SALURBAL Study

• Autores: Quistberg, D. Alex; Diez Roux, Ana V.; Bilal, Usama; Moore, Kari; Ortigoza, Ana; Rodriguez, Daniel A.; Sarmiento, Olga L.; Frenz, Patricia; Friche, Amélia Augusta; Caiaffa, Waleska Teixeira; Vives, Alejandra; Miranda, J. Jaime; Tisnés, Adela; the SALURBAL group
• Año de publicación: 2018
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: URBAN HEALTH; LATIN AMERICA; CITIES; BUILT ENVIRONMENT; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT; MULTILEVEL MODELS; MORTALITY; HEALTH SURVEY
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Studies examining urban health and the environment must ensure comparability of measures across cities and countries. We describe a data platform and process that integrates health outcomes together with physical and social environment data to examine multilevel aspects of health across cities in 11 Latin American countries. We used two complementary sources to identify cities with ≥ 100,000 inhabitants as of 2010 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. We defined cities in three ways: administratively, quantitatively from satellite imagery, and based on country-defined metropolitan areas. In addition to “cities,” we identified sub-city units and smaller neighborhoods within them using census hierarchies. Selected physical environment (e.g., urban form, air pollution and transport) and social environment (e.g., income, education, safety) data were compiled for cities, sub-city units, and neighborhoods whenever possible using a range of sources. Harmonized mortality and health survey data were linked to city and sub-city units. Finer georeferencing is underway. We identified 371 cities and 1436 sub-city units in the 11 countries. The median city population was 234,553 inhabitants (IQR 141,942; 500,398). The systematic organization of cities, the initial task of this platform, was accomplished and further ongoing developments include the harmonization of mortality and survey measures using available sources for between country comparisons. A range of physical and social environment indicators can be created using available data. The flexible multilevel data structure accommodates heterogeneity in the data available and allows for varied multilevel research questions related to the associations of physical and social environment variables with variability in health outcomes within and across cities. The creation of such data platforms holds great promise to support researching with greater granularity the field of urban health in Latin America as well as serving as a resource for the evaluation of policies oriented to improve the health and environmental sustainability of cities.
Fil: Quistberg, D. Alex. Drexel University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Diez Roux, Ana V.. Drexel University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Bilal, Usama. Drexel University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Moore, Kari. Drexel University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Ortigoza, Ana. Drexel University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Rodriguez, Daniel A.. University of California at Berkeley; Estados Unidos
Fil: Sarmiento, Olga L.. Universidad de los Andes; Colombia
Fil: Frenz, Patricia. Universidad de Chile; Chile
Fil: Friche, Amélia Augusta. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Brasil
Fil: Caiaffa, Waleska Teixeira. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Brasil
Fil: Vives, Alejandra. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile
Fil: Miranda, J. Jaime. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia; Perú
Fil: Tisnés, Adela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Instituto de Geografía, Historia y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Geografía, Historia y Ciencias Sociales; Argentina
Fil: the SALURBAL group. Universidad Nacional de Lanús. Rectorado. Instituto de Salud Colectiva; Argentina