The changing food environment and neighborhood prevalence of type 2 diabetes

Cathleen D Zick; David S Curtis; Huong Meeks; Ken R Smith; Barbara B Brown; Kyle Kole; Lori Kowaleski-Jones

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101338

The changing food environment and neighborhood prevalence of type 2 diabetes

SSM Popul Health. 2023 Jan 10:21:101338. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101338. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Cathleen D Zick¹, David S Curtis¹, Huong Meeks², Ken R Smith¹, Barbara B Brown¹, Kyle Kole¹, Lori Kowaleski-Jones^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, USA.
² Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, USA.
³ NEXUS Institute, University of Utah, USA.

Abstract

In this ecological study, we used longitudinal data to assess if changes in neighborhood food environments were associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prevalence, controlling for a host of neighborhood characteristics and spatial error correlation. We found that the population-adjusted prevalence of fast-food and pizza restaurants, grocery stores, and full-service restaurants along with changes in their numbers from 1990 to 2010 were associated with 2015 T2DM prevalence. The results suggested that neighborhoods where fast-food restaurants have increased and neighborhoods where full-service restaurants have decreased over time may be especially important targets for educational campaigns or other public health-related T2DM interventions.

Keywords: Longitudinal changes in the food environment; Spatial error correlation; Type 2 diabetes.

Grants and funding

R01 DK118405/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/United States