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Objectives. To examine the association between neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and alcohol availability before and after deregulation in 2015 of the alcohol market in Ontario, Canada. Methods. We quantified alcohol access by number of alcohol outlets and hours of retail for all 19 964 neighborhoods in Ontario. We used mixed effects regression models to examine the associations between alcohol access and a validated SES index between 2013 and 2017. Results. Following deregulation, the number of alcohol outlets in Ontario increased by 15.0%. Low neighborhood SES was positively associated with increased alcohol access: lower-SES neighborhoods had more alcohol outlets within 1000 meters and were closer to the nearest alcohol outlets. Outlets located in low-SES neighborhoods kept longer hours of operation. Conclusions. We observed a substantial increase in alcohol access in Ontario following deregulation. Access to alcohol was greatest in low-SES neighborhoods and may contribute to established inequities in alcohol harms. Public Health Implications. Placing limits on number of alcohol outlets and the hours of operation in low-SES neighborhoods offers an opportunity to reduce alcohol-related health inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that occurred in the United States (2015–2016) using a data set from the Guardian newspaper. We used census data to estimate expected police-related death counts for all US census tracts and to calculate the Index of Concentration at the Extremes as a segregation measure. We used multilevel negative binomial models for the analyses. Results. Overall, police-related death rates were highest in neighborhoods with the greatest concentrations of low-income residents (vs high-income residents) and residents of color (vs non-Hispanic White residents). For non-Hispanic Blacks, however, the risk was greater in the quintile of neighborhoods with the highest concentration of non-Hispanic White residents than in certain neighborhoods with relatively higher concentrations of residents of color (the third and fourth quintiles). Conclusions. Neighborhood context matters—beyond individual race/ethnicity—for understanding, preventing, and responding to the occurrence of police-related deaths. Public Health Implications. Efforts to monitor, prevent, and respond to police-related deaths should consider neighborhood context, including levels of segregation by income and race/ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To highlight contextual factors tied to increased blood lead level (BLL) risk following the lead-in-water contamination in Flint, Michigan. Methods. Using geocoded BLL data collected in 2013 and 2015 and areal interpolation, we predicted BLLs at every residential parcel in the city. We then spatially joined social and built environmental variables to link the parcels with neighborhood-level factors that may influence BLLs. Results. When we compared levels before and during the water crisis, we saw the highest estimates of predicted BLLs during the water crisis and the greatest changes in BLLs in neighborhoods with the longest water residence time in pipes (μ = 2.30 μg/dL; Δ = 0.45 μg/dL), oldest house age (μ = 2.22 μg/dL; Δ = 0.37 μg/dL), and poorest average neighborhood housing condition (μ = 2.18 μg/dL; Δ = 0.44 μg/dL). Conclusions. Key social and built environmental variables correlate with BLL; such information can continue to guide response by prioritizing older, deteriorating neighborhoods with the longest water residence time in pipes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth to examine the influence of neighborhood characteristics on young males' sexual and reproductive health (SRH). We linked census tract data to construct a Neighborhood Disadvantage Scale for 1092 never-married males aged 15 to 19 years, and we examined the association of neighborhood disadvantage with 11 SRH behaviors for each male. We found significant associations between neighborhood disadvantage and measures of partnering and pregnancy. Public health research and policies must consider the role of neighborhood context when addressing health behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We examined whether social processes of neighborhoods, such as collective efficacy, during individual's adolescent years affect the likelihood of being involved in physical dating violence during young adulthood. Methods. Using longitudinal data on 633 urban youths aged 13 to 19 years at baseline and data from their neighborhoods (collected by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods), we ran multilevel linear regression models separately by gender to assess the association between collective efficacy and physical dating violence victimization and perpetration, controlling for individual covariates, neighborhood poverty, and perceived neighborhood violence. Results. Females were significantly more likely than were males to be perpetrators of dating violence during young adulthood (38% vs 19%). Multilevel analyses revealed some variation in dating violence at the neighborhood level, partly accounted for by collective efficacy. Collective efficacy was predictive of victimization for males but not females after control for confounders; it was marginally associated with perpetration (P=.07). The effects of collective efficacy varied by neighborhood poverty. Finally, a significant proportion (intraclass correlation=14%--21%) of the neighborhood-level variation in male perpetration remained unexplained after modeling. Conclusions. Community-level strategies may be useful in preventing dating violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We examined whether individual and neighborhood characteristics associated with smoking were also predictive of exposure to smoking prevention education in schools, to determine whether education programs were targeted appropriately to reach neighborhoods with the greatest need. Methods. We merged data from 2 sources--the 2005 Virginia Youth Tobacco Survey (n=2208) and the Census 2000 School District Demographics Project--and used binary multilevel models with random effects to determine whether the same demographic characteristics and neighborhood characteristics predicted both adolescent smoking and exposure to prevention programs. Results. We found that although light, medium, and heavy smoking rates were higher in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status (relative risk ratio=1.49, 1.36, and 1.65, respectively), prevention programs were less available in those areas (odds ratio=0.82). Conclusions. Our study indicates that school prevention programs are not being effectively targeted and that more effective ways to reach high-risk and disadvantaged neighborhoods are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is provided in which the author discusses the relationship between the history of housing and population health in the U.S. from the mid 20th century through 2020, including the effect of neighborhoods on public health in New York City, New York. An overview of the U.S. government's racially discriminatory mortgage lending policy, including the government-sponsored Home Owners Loan Corporation's (HOLC's) role in redlining, is provided.

The authors discusses the impact of medical care costs on socioeconomic inequalities, including in regard to access to health care, referencing a Netherlands population health study in the issue by Boer et al. An overview of the relationship between socioeconomic status and health care costs in neighborhoods is provided.

Disparities in neighborhood food access are well documented, but little research exists on how shocks influence such disparities. We examined neighborhood food access in New Orleans at 3 time points: before Hurricane Katrina (2004- 2005), in 2007, and in 2009. We combined existing directories with on-the-ground verification and geographic information system mapping to assess supermarket counts in the entire city. Existing disparities for African American neighborhoods worsened after the storm. Although improvements have been made, by 2009 disparities were no better than prestorm levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented which addresses the author's views about the work of public health researchers in America and the concept of a public health of consequence as of 2017, and it mentions an effort to determine whether public health interventions benefit everyone equally. Population health management is assessed, along with a hypothetical intervention aimed at improving collective efficacy and reducing violent victimization in New York, New York's neighborhoods.

The article offers global public health research news briefs as of July 2018. Most women in South Africa did not report using dual protection contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The effects of online social networks among youths and adolescents in Myanmar were studied. Research in Scotland found a relationship between neighborhood crime rates and pregnancy outcomes.

The article discusses the Best Babies Zone program which was started by the University of California-Berkeley and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and is designed to build neighborhood coalitions in order to improve infant health and the quality of life in areas with high rates of infant mortality.