Measuring Neighborhood Landscapes: Associations between a Neighborhood’s Landscape Characteristics and Colon Cancer Survival

Daniel Wiese, Antoinette M. Stroup, Aniruddha Maiti, Gerald Harris, Shannon M. Lynch, Slobodan Vucetic, Victor H. Gutierrez-Velez and Kevin A. Henry
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Daniel Wiese: Department of Geography and Urban Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
Antoinette M. Stroup: New Jersey Department of Health, New Jersey State Cancer Registry, Trenton, NJ 08625, USA
Aniruddha Maiti: Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
Gerald Harris: New Jersey Department of Health, New Jersey State Cancer Registry, Trenton, NJ 08625, USA
Shannon M. Lynch: Fox Chase Cancer Center, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA
Slobodan Vucetic: Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
Victor H. Gutierrez-Velez: Department of Geography and Urban Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
Kevin A. Henry: Department of Geography and Urban Studies, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: Landscape characteristics have been shown to influence health outcomes, but few studies have examined their relationship with cancer survival. We used data from the National Land Cover Database to examine associations between regional-stage colon cancer survival and 27 different landscape metrics. The study population included all adult New Jersey residents diagnosed between 2006 and 2011. Cases were followed until 31 December 2016 (N = 3949). Patient data were derived from the New Jersey State Cancer Registry and were linked to LexisNexis to obtain residential histories. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI95) for the different landscape metrics. An increasing proportion of high-intensity developed lands with 80–100% impervious surfaces per cell/pixel was significantly associated with the risk of colon cancer death (HR = 1.006; CI95 = 1.002–1.01) after controlling for neighborhood poverty and other individual-level factors. In contrast, an increase in the aggregation and connectivity of vegetation-dominated low-intensity developed lands with 20–<40% impervious surfaces per cell/pixel was significantly associated with the decrease in risk of death from colon cancer (HR = 0.996; CI95 = 0.992–0.999). Reducing impervious surfaces in residential areas may increase the aesthetic value and provide conditions more advantageous to a healthy lifestyle, such as walking. Further research is needed to understand how these landscape characteristics impact survival.

Keywords: residential histories; residential mobility; time-varying covariates; survival analysis; geographic disparities; colon cancer; neighborhood socio-economic status; landscape metrics; landscape characteristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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