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The Creation of a Multidomain Neighborhood Environmental Vulnerability Index Across New York City

Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Compared to previous studies commonly using a single summary score, we aimed to construct a multidomain neighborhood environmental vulnerability index (NEVI) to characterize the magnitude and variability of area-level factors with the potential to modify the association between environmental pollutants and health effects. Using the Toxicological Prioritization Index framework and data from the 2015-2019 U.S. Census American Community Survey and the 2020 CDC PLACES Project, we quantified census tract-level vulnerability overall and in 4 primary domains (demographic, economic, residential, and health status), 24 subdomains, and 54 distinct area-level features for New York City (NYC). Overall and domain-specific indices were calculated by summing standardized feature values within the subdomains and then aggregating and weighting based on the number of features within each subdomain within equally-weighted primary domains. In citywide comparisons, NEVI was correlated with multiple existing indices, including the Neighborhood Deprivation Index (r = 0.91) and Social Vulnerability Index (r = 0.87) but provided additional information on features contributing to vulnerability. Vulnerability varied spatially across NYC, and hierarchical cluster analysis using subdomain scores revealed six patterns of vulnerability across domains: 1) low in all, 2) primarily low except residential, 3) medium in all, 4) high demographic, economic, and residential 5) high economic, residential, and health status, and 6) high demographic, economic and health status. Created using methods that offer flexibility for theory-based construction, NEVI provided detailed vulnerability metrics across domains that can inform targeted research and public health interventions aimed at reducing the health impacts from environmental exposures across urban centers.
DOI: 10.1007/s11524-023-00766-3
Authors: Stephen P. Uong, Jiayi Zhou, Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, Sandra S. Albrecht, Alexander Azan, Earle C. Chambers, Perry E. Sheffield, Azure Thompson, Joseph Wilson, Jennifer Woo Baidal, Jeanette A. Stingone
Institutions: Columbia University, NYU Langone Health, New York University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,390
Funders: Health Effects Institute, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Awards: G1452478181, G1794674068, G1859754121, G2495941498, G4769158466, G5470398791, Pediatric Health and Extreme Weather - Health Effects of Ambient Temperature (PHEW-HEAT), G6300735211, Mount Sinai Center for Health and Environment Across the LifeSpan (HEALS), Advanced training in environmental health and data science: molecules to populations, Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan
OpenAlex ID: W4385969575
FWCI: 7.746
Cites: 47
Cited by: 18
Related to: 10