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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jeana H. Frost, PhD, Medical Informatics Systems Unit, Boston Medical Center, 720 Harrison Ave, Suite 1102, Boston, MA 02118, 617 638 5791, frost@bu.edu and Joan Walker, PhD, Geography and Environment, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215.

The built environment imposes a set of nutritional options to its inhabitants by virtue of the location of restaurants and grocery stores and their offerings. Individuals, contingent upon their socio-economic status and places of residence and work, interact with this set of options in different ways. In this pilot project, we use individual-level behavioral models to provide insight on how dietary choice is affected by both socio-economic factors and components of the built environment. Boston residents completed a web-based survey providing background biographical information (income, age, household structure, location of home, school and work) and charting their movement, activities, and diet choices throughout a day. GIS was used to geocode the data for visualization and analysis. We employed well-established econometric methods used in urban planning to model travel and activity choices. Incorporating nutrition into this framework, we model particular dietary choices, such as whether the individuals choose to stop for fast food or eat at home. Such choices are conditional on who they are, the built environment, and their routine. Using this model, predictions can be made regarding the implications of altering this landscape on nutrition.

Learning Objectives:

• We will introduce the public health community to use of econometric, individual-level models and articulate the possible uses of geocoded data (GIS) to examine behavior with a spatial compoent. Specifically we will discuss nutrition choices.

Keywords: Nutrition, Statistics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation