Research
Our current focus is on how neighborhood features can weaken the link between family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and offspring T2DM risk. The intergenerational transmission of T2DM to offspring has long been known. In this work, we draw on a life course framework to test hypotheses regarding the role of the neighborhood environment in the transmission of T2DM from parents to offspring. The research will transform our understanding of how neighborhood features, such as walkability, the presence of quality food environments, and residential greenness, affect T2DM risk over the life course. This project is funded by NIH/NIDDK (Kowaleski-Jones, PI).
We leverage the comprehensive, longitudinal records in the Utah Population Database, which contain individual-level data on medical, residential, and familial variables spanning decades for an entire population. These intergenerational data will be integrated with measures of neighborhood characteristics across time to construct longitudinal family health and neighborhood histories. This project addresses the following goals:
- Aim 1: Identify how neighborhood-level risk factors for T2DM, such as low walkability and poor-quality food environments, changed in recent decades;
- Aim 2: Estimate how intergenerational T2DM transmission is modified by the neighborhood environment;
- Aim 3: Identify potential savings in healthcare spending that would come from modifying neighborhood features linked to T2DM risk.
What does this study contribute?
This study makes several innovative contributions to the diabetes literature.
- We use decades of data to operationalize neighborhood risk in terms of initial and changing measures of walkability and food environments.
- We utilize genealogical records and family medical health histories, a feature not found in prior T2DM studies, to assemble a cohort of parents and offspring in four urban Utah counties, differentiating between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white populations.
- We combine intergenerational and neighborhood data for a multilevel study of T2DM risk that can inform prevention policies.
- We estimate the costs of diabetes attributable to neighborhood conditions subject to policy changes.
Operationalize Neighborhood T2DM Risk
- Decades of data regarding the initial and changing measures of walkability and food environments.
Family Medical Health Histories
- Not found in prior T2DM studies
Multilevel Study of T2DM Risk
- Combination of intergenerational and neighborhood data.
T2DM Cost Attributable to Neighborhood Conditions