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The purpose of this study was to use social indicators to compare adolescent health disparities across neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland, circa 2017. Neighborhoods heavily influence adolescent health outcomes. Baltimore remains a hypersegregated city along racial boundaries with a recently growing population of Latino immigrant youth. This segregation may promulgate adolescent health disparities, yet the magnitude of needs and how they may differ among Baltimore's minoritized adolescents remain unknown. The most predominantly white, black, and Latino neighborhoods in Baltimore were analyzed across six indicators relevant to adolescent health: teen birth rate, high school achievement, poverty, health insurance, youth mortality rate, and lead paint violation rate. The indicators were used to create a composite adolescent deprivation index. Measures of absolute and relative disparity were then calculated between white, black, and Latino neighborhood clusters. Both black and Latino neighborhoods had similar adolescent deprivation relative to white neighborhoods. Latino neighborhoods had the highest teen birth rate and children without health insurance. Black neighborhoods had the lowest educational achievement and the highest poverty, youth mortality, and lead paint violation rate. The overall magnitude of social deprivation is similar across communities of color in Baltimore. However, black adolescents tend to live in neighborhoods with greater physical deprivation and youth mortality that limits within-group bonding capacity, whereas Latino adolescents tend to live in neighborhoods with limited health and social resources that prevent between-group bridging capacity. These indicators thus orient policies and programs to promote differential asset-based strategies for positive youth development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: Literacy deficits and underutilization of medical services have been linked to health disparities among minorities, and this appears especially relevant for the Latino population. Given the increasing importance of genetics, assessment of genetic health literacy may direct future efforts to better serve this vulnerable population. The current study was designed to contribute to this area by translating and validating a Spanish-language genetic health literacy measure. Method: This was a cross-sectional study involving an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Eligible individuals were Latinos between the ages of 18 and 75 residing in Maryland, who self-reported Spanish as their primary language, recruited through convenience sampling. The genetic health literacy measure components were adapted from existing English-language measures [Erby, Roter, Larson, & Cho’s (2008) Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Genetics (REAL-G) and Hooker et al.'s (2014) Genetic Literacy and Comprehension], An existing Spanish-language general health literacy measure was used to establish preliminary concurrent validity [Lee, Bender, Ruiz, & Cho’s (2006) SAHLSA]. Results: 116 individuals completed the assessment. The Spanish-language REAL-G (REAL-GSp) was found to correlate well with the SAHLSA (Pearson's r = .77, p < .01). A cut-off score of 59 (out of 62) distinguished low versus high genetic health literacy with a sensitivity of 86% and specificity of 71%, identifying 28% of participants as having inadequate genetic health literacy. Conclusions: The REAL-G-Sp was found to have preliminary concurrent validity with an existing health literacy measure in the Latino population residing in Maryland. Significant proportions of this population are predicted to have limitations in genetic health literacy, even when information is provided in Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health effects associated with extreme weather events are highly localized, because key characteristics of the built environment and the resident population change from one neighborhood to the next. Green building programs such as LEED incorporate design strategies that, if applied proactively, could enhance community resilience and public health by reducing the adverse effects of climatic events, particularly in vulnerable neighborhoods. This exploratory spatial and ecological analysis assessed the spatial correlation between protective green building strategies and neighborhood-level vulnerability to two climatic events — extreme heat and flooding — in Austin, TX, and Chicago, IL, from 2001 to 2012. In both locations, the frequency analysis found far fewer occurrences of LEED certified projects in neighborhoods with high densities of vulnerable populations. The hot spot and spatial autocorrelation analyses found no spatial correlation between clusters of protective green building strategies and clusters of vulnerable populations. Green building projects were not used in Austin or Chicago from 2001 to 2012 as a tool to reduce neighborhood vulnerability to the health and environmental effects of two high-risk climatic events: extreme heat and flooding. However, green building design, construction, and operations and maintenance projects could use local vulnerability maps and spatial analysis techniques to support decisions prioritizing strategies that simultaneously reduce GHG emissions and protect building occupants from exposure to climatic events. Similarly, local policymakers could use spatial analysis to prioritize protective built environment policies in the neighborhoods where they would do the most good. • Communities experience spatial disparity in climate change vulnerability. • Characteristics of neighborhood vulnerability to heat and flooding were identified. • Spatial correlation between vulnerability and green building was assessed. • Vulnerable locations were not spatially correlated with protective green building strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]