tailieunhanh - Báo cáo y học: " Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess the role of the built environment in influencing obesity: a glossary"

Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học Critical Care giúp cho các bạn có thêm kiến thức về ngành y học đề tài: Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess the role of the built environment in influencing obesity: a glossary. | Thornton et al. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2011 8 71 http content 8 1 71 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY REVIEW Open Access Using Geographic Information Systems GIS to assess the role of the built environment in influencing obesity a glossary Lukar E Thornton1 Jamie R Pearce2 and Anne M Kavanagh3 Abstract Features of the built environment are increasingly being recognised as potentially important determinants of obesity. This has come about in part because of advances in methodological tools such as Geographic Information Systems GIS . GIS has made the procurement of data related to the built environment easier and given researchers the flexibility to create a new generation of environmental exposure measures such as the travel time to the nearest supermarket or calculations of the amount of neighbourhood greenspace. Given the rapid advances in the availability of GIS data and the relative ease of use of GIS software a glossary on the use of GIS to assess the built environment is timely. As a case study we draw on aspects the food and physical activity environments as they might apply to obesity to define key GIS terms related to data collection concepts and the measurement of environmental features. Background The role of the built environment in explaining the spatial patterning of obesity has recently received considerable attention in the public health and epidemiology literature 1 2 . The built environment comprises of urban design land use and transportation systems 3 . Research in this field has shown that features of the built environment exert an influence on physical and mental health as well as health behaviours independently of the socio-demographic characteristics of the people living in these places 4-6 . For instance researchers have evaluated whether aspects of the food environment including access to supermarkets convenience stores and fast food outlets are