Tracing place and health over Time: Advancing longitudinal approaches in geospatial health applications.

Our special issue on "Longitudinal Analysis in Geospatial Health Applications" highlights major advances in understanding how dynamic environments shape health across the life course. Featuring innovative methods, including medical informatics, artificial intelligence, and precise residential history protocols, authors demonstrate how exposures, neighborhood opportunities, and social inequalities accumulate and interact over time and space. Studies span global contexts, documenting the health impacts of mobility, residential (dis)advantage, environmental hazards, built and food environments, and access to greenspace.

Epidemiology of fatal and nonfatal community firearm violence in New York City, 2019-2023.

Background: Endemic levels of community firearm violence in United States cities disproportionately burden certain sociodemographic groups. Nonfatal injuries are an understudied aspect of firearm violence. Police data in a large and heterogenous place like New York City (NYC) provide the unique opportunity to use a single data source to measure fatal and nonfatal community firearm violence.

Geographic access to colonoscopy, neighborhood social vulnerability, and associations with late-stage colorectal cancers in Maryland: 2010-2021.

Background: Early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) significantly improves survival. However, geographic inaccessibility of colonoscopies may prevent timely and effective screenings. The relationship between spatial access to colonoscopy providers, social determinants of health, and stage at CRC diagnosis remains understudied.

Detecting co-occurring clusters of coronary heart disease and depression in New England neighborhoods.

Background: There is increasing evidence that coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with a mental health disorder have increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. Studying this relationship beyond the individual at the neighborhood level could lead to novel public health interventions.

Methods: Spatial scan statistics were used to detect potential co-occurring geographic clusters of CHD and depression among adults in the New England region of the United States during 2019.

Access to early liver transplantation is adversely impacted by social determinants of health: A retrospective cohort study.

Early liver transplant (ELT) is the practice of liver transplant for those with severe alcohol-associated hepatitis or acute on chronic alcohol-associated liver disease, without requiring any minimum pre-transplant abstinence period. It is an increasingly adopted practice for alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) capable of providing excellent outcomes, but there are concerns regarding equity in access to ELT. Our objectives were (1) to quantify the association between social determinants of health (SDoH) and progression from referral to listing, and (2) to identify geographic disparities in referrals for ELT.

Inclusive Mobility: Dismantling transportation injustice at the intersection of race and disability.

Transportation impacts population health. Historical trauma, structural inequities, and institutional discrimination have created transportation injustice. Transportation injustice is a product of systemic racism and ableism which perpetuates inequities, discrimination, and exclusion.

Understudied anophelines may sustain residual transmission during the dry season in a pre-elimination setting in southern Zambia.

Malaria control is a public health priority but common control methods like indoor residual spraying and the use of bednets do not target outdoor-biting vectors. In settings with seasonal residual malaria transmission, we lack critical knowledge regarding anopheline species composition and their role in transmission. This study aimed to determine relative seasonal vector species abundance and associated household level factors in a low transmission setting in Choma District, Zambia.

Diagnosis to Excision: Estimates for Guideline-Concordant Treatment of High-Grade Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia.

Objective: To estimate the proportion of participants with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN 2/3) who completed indicated therapeutic procedures.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational cohort study of the National Institutes of Health's All of Us database enriched for racial and ethnic minorities historically underrepresented in biomedical research. The study included female participants aged 25 and older with a diagnosis of CIN 2/3 only, excluding invasive malignancy.

Leveraging spatiotemporal Bayesian analysis to unravel polysubstance use and overdose risk: Opportunities and challenges.

In the current wave of the opioid epidemic, the prevalence of polysubstance use continues to complicate drug-related deaths. Most studies to date use non-spatial statistical approaches to examine the association between polysubstance use and overdose risk, without considering the spatial distribution of these latent sub-patterns of use. This paper describes the utility and potential impact of using disease mapping and Bayesian spatiotemporal approaches for analyzing and monitoring polysubstance use and overdose risk to better respond to the ongoing opioid epidemic.

Case-area targeted interventions and free chlorine residual in household drinking water: An observational cohort study during a cholera outbreak in Northeast Nigeria.

Background: Cholera outbreaks are surging worldwide. Growing research supports case-area targeted interventions (CATIs), whereby teams provide a package of interventions to case and neighboring households, as an effective strategy in cholera outbreak control, particularly in humanitarian settings. While research exists on individual CATI interventions, research gaps exist on outcomes of integrated interventions during CATI responses.

Neighborhood physical activity facilities predict risk of incident mixed and vascular dementia: The Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study.

Introduction: Neighborhood environments may promote neurocognitive health in part by providing amenities that encourage physical activity. We examined associations between quantity of walkable facilities, including specifically physical activity facilities (e.g.

Neighborhoods, Networks, and HIV Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men: Proposal for a Longitudinal Study.

Background: The majority of people living with HIV in the United States are men who have sex with men (MSM), with race- and ethnicity-based disparities in HIV rates and care continuum. In order to uncover the neighborhood- and network-involved pathways that produce HIV care outcome disparities, systematic, theory-based investigation of the specific and intersecting neighborhood and social network characteristics that relate to the HIV care continuum must be engaged.

Objective: Using socioecological and intersectional conceptual frameworks, we aim to identify individual-, neighborhood-, and network-level characteristics associated with HIV care continuum outcomes (viral suppression, retention in care, and antiretroviral adherence) among MSM living with HIV in New York City.

Opportunities and shortcomings of AI for spatial epidemiology and health disparities research on aging and the life course.

Established spatial and life course methods have helped epidemiologists and health and medical geographers study the impact of individual and area-level determinants on health disparities. While these methods are effective, the emergence of Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) offers new opportunities to leverage complex and multi-scalar data in spatial aging and life course research. The objective of this perspective is three-fold: (1) to review established methods in aging, life course, and spatial epidemiology research; (2) to highlight some of the opportunities offered by GeoAI for enhancing research on health disparities across life course and aging research; (3) to discuss the shortcomings of using GeoAI methods in aging and life course studies.

Disparities in spatiotemporal clustering of maternal mental health conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mounting evidence indicates the worsening of maternal mental health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental health conditions are the leading cause of preventable death during the perinatal and postpartum periods. Our study sought to detect space-time patterns in the distribution of maternal mental health conditions in pregnant women before (2016-2019) and during (2020-2021) the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina, USA.

Associations between toxicity-weighted concentrations and dementia risk: Results from the Cardiovascular Health Cognition Study.

Background: Air pollution is a modifiable risk factor for dementia. Yet, studies on specific sources of air pollution (i.e.

Case-area targeted interventions during a large-scale cholera epidemic: A prospective cohort study in Northeast Nigeria.

Background: Cholera outbreaks are on the rise globally, with conflict-affected settings particularly at risk. Case-area targeted interventions (CATIs), a strategy whereby teams provide a package of interventions to case and neighboring households within a predefined "ring," are increasingly employed in cholera responses. However, evidence on their ability to attenuate incidence is limited.

Disparities in Cancer Stage Outcomes by Catchment Areas for a Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Importance: The National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer centers (CCCs) lack spatial and temporal evaluation of their self-designated catchment areas.

Objective: To identify disparities in cancer stage at diagnosis within and outside a CCC's catchment area across a 10-year period using spatial and statistical analyses.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional, population-based study conducted between 2010 and 2019 utilized cancer registry data for the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel CCC (SKCCC).

Healthcare utilization in women diagnosed with endometrial cancer: A survey-based study.

Objective: Despite similar incidence, non-Hispanic Black women are twice as likely to die of endometrial cancer as non-Hispanic White women. The social determinants of health may contribute to this disparity. We studied barriers to care and social needs of endometrial cancer patients.

Geographic Disparities in Potential Accessibility to Gynecologic Oncologists in the United States From 2001 to 2020.

Objective: To use a spatial modeling approach to capture potential disparities of gynecologic oncologist accessibility in the United States at the county level between 2001 and 2020.

Methods: Physician registries identified the 2001-2020 gynecologic oncology workforce and were aggregated to each county. The at-risk cohort (women aged 18 years or older) was stratified by race and ethnicity and rurality demographics.

Geographic variation in HCV treatment penetration among people who inject drugs in Baltimore, MD.

We evaluated geographic heterogeneity in hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment penetration among people who inject drug (PWID) across Baltimore, MD since the advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) using space-time clusters of HCV viraemia. Using data from a community-based cohort of PWID, the AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience (ALIVE) study, we identified space-time clusters with higher-than-expected rates of HCV viraemia between 2015 and 2019 using scan statistics. We used Poisson regression to identify covariates associated with HCV viraemia and used the regression-fitted values to detect adjusted space-time clusters of HCV viraemia in Baltimore city.

Using Smartphone Survey and GPS Data to Inform Smoking Cessation Intervention Delivery: Case Study.

Background: Interest in quitting smoking is common among young adults who smoke, but it can prove challenging. Although evidence-based smoking cessation interventions exist and are effective, a lack of access to these interventions specifically designed for young adults remains a major barrier for this population to successfully quit smoking. Therefore, researchers have begun to develop modern, smartphone-based interventions to deliver smoking cessation messages at the appropriate place and time for an individual.

Improving longitudinal research in geospatial health: An agenda.

All aspects of public health research require longitudinal analyses to fully capture the dynamics of outcomes and risk factors such as ageing, human mobility, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), climate change, and endemic, emerging, and re-emerging infectious diseases. Studies in geospatial health are often limited to spatial and temporal cross sections. This generates uncertainty in the exposures and behavior of study populations.

Utilizing prospective space-time scan statistics to discover the dynamics of coronavirus disease 2019 clusters in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Background: The number of deaths and people infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Brazil has steadily increased in the first few months of the pandemic. Despite the underreporting of coronavirus cases by government agencies across the country, São Paulo has the highest rate among all Brazilian states.

Methods: To identify the highest-risk municipalities during the initial outbreak, we utilized daily confirmed case data from official reports between February 25 and May 5, 2020, which were aggregated to the municipality level.