This project was sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R21-DK8356430). The goal of this project is to leverage multiple linked nationwide administrative databases in Sweden to examine how elements of the contextual environment (e.g., neighborhood characteristics, residential segregation, access to healthy food outlets) related to mental and physical health, with a focus on type 2 diabetes and depression. While many studies have examined whether neighborhood context influences risk of these conditions, few have been able to adequately account for self-selection into neighborhoods to better isolate the potential causal influence of neighborhood context. This project uses nationwide, geocoded healthcare records – which have been further linked to family relations registry – to estimate the influence of neighborhood context by using genetically-informed (e.g., within family) designs.

 

This project is a collaboration with Kristina and Jan Sundquist, who are with the Centre for Primary Healthcare Research at Lund University in Malmo, Sweden.

Select publications related to this project

Beyond access: Characteristics of the food environment and risk of diabetes. Am J Epidemiol 2016.

Ethnic enclaves and risk of psychiatric disorders among first- and second-generation immigrants in Sweden. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2015.

Neighborhood walkability, deprivation, and incidence of type 2 diabetes: A population-based study of 512,061 Swedish adults. Health Place 2015.

Depression, neighborhood deprivation, and risk of type 2 diabetes. Health Place 2013.