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Second Edition of the Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 12027

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jacqueline Curtis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
GIS Health & Hazards Lab, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
Interests: spatial epidemiology; mapping local knowledge; environment–health relationships; women’s health; pediatric neurodiversity and health
Prof. Dr. Andrew Curtis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
GIS Health & Hazards Lab, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
Interests: spatial video geonarratives; GIS and context; fine scale health interventions; challenging environment spatial data collection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Since the first edition of this Special Issue in 2019 (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph/special_issues/health_geography), the body of evidence pointing to the complexity of geographic contexts in shaping health outcomes, and their implications for interventions, continues to grow. Despite awareness of this complexity, it remains challenging for spatial investigations to fully account for its presence. For example, there is a dearth of guidance on the identification and representation of the dynamic spatial and temporal scales that often interact to yield a particular outcome. In addition to scale, questions are emerging about the suitability of “official” data, the potential role for local knowledge or other “unofficial” data, and how these potentially disparate sources can be meaningfully integrated in a Geographic Information System. To address such challenges, a new frontier of health geography continues to emerge—one that is focusing on new forms of geospatial technologies, novel methods, and analytical approaches, including customized software development, and means to capture the physical and social context. In this Special Issue, we invite researchers who use spatial data to showcase their new methods and applications for any health problem, in any health setting. The only limitations are that the project must specifically highlight approaches that advance our understanding of the geographic context in health and its implications for intervention.

Dr. Jacqueline Curtis
Prof. Dr. Andrew Curtis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • GIS and health
  • health geography
  • medical geography
  • context
  • spatial epidemiology

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2385 KiB  
Article
Triangulating the New Frontier of Health Geo-Data: Assessing Tick-Borne Disease Risk as an Occupational Hazard among Vulnerable Populations
by Sarah P. Maxwell, Connie L. McNeely, Chris Brooks and Kevin Thomas
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9449; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159449 - 2 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2055
Abstract
Determining interventions to combat disease often requires complex analyses of spatial-temporal data to improve health outcomes. For some vulnerable populations, obtaining sufficient data for related analyses is especially difficult, thus exacerbating related healthcare, research, and public health efforts. In the United States (U.S.), [...] Read more.
Determining interventions to combat disease often requires complex analyses of spatial-temporal data to improve health outcomes. For some vulnerable populations, obtaining sufficient data for related analyses is especially difficult, thus exacerbating related healthcare, research, and public health efforts. In the United States (U.S.), migrant and seasonal workers are especially affected in this regard, with data on health interventions and outcomes largely absent from official sources. In response, this study offers a multi-modal approach that involves triangulating geographically specified health data that incorporate reports on canine tick species, Lyme disease (LD) incidence, and patient symptom severity indicating potential subsequent disease burden. Spatial alignment of data at the U.S. county level was used to reveal and better understand tick-borne disease (TBD) incidence and risk among the identified populations. Survey data from migrant and seasonal workers in Texas were employed to determine TBD risk based on symptoms, occupations, and locations. Respondents who were found to have a higher likelihood of a TBD were also considerably more likely to report the most common symptoms of LD and other TBDs on the Horowitz Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome Questionnaire. Those in the highly likely scoring group also reported more poor health and mental health days. Overall, a notable number of respondents (22%) were likely or highly likely to have a TBD, with particular relevance attributed to county of residence and living conditions. Also of note, almost a third of those reporting severe symptoms had received a previous Lyme disease diagnosis. These findings underscore the need for further surveillance among vulnerable populations at risk for TBDs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)
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9 pages, 1569 KiB  
Article
Application of Place-Based Methods to Lung Transplant Medicine
by Wayne M. Tsuang, Maeve MacMurdo and Jacqueline Curtis
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(12), 7355; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127355 - 15 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1669
Abstract
Lung transplantation is an increasingly common lifesaving therapy for patients with fatal lung diseases, but this intervention has a critical limitation as median survival after LT is merely 5.5 years. Despite the profound impact of place-based factors on lung health, this has not [...] Read more.
Lung transplantation is an increasingly common lifesaving therapy for patients with fatal lung diseases, but this intervention has a critical limitation as median survival after LT is merely 5.5 years. Despite the profound impact of place-based factors on lung health, this has not been rigorously investigated in LT recipients—a vulnerable population due to the lifelong need for daily life-sustaining immunosuppression medications. There have also been longstanding methodological gaps in transplant medicine where both time and place have not been measured; gaps which could be filled by the geospatial sciences. As part of an exploratory analysis, we studied recipients transplanted at our center over a two-year period. The main outcome was at least one episode of rejection within the first year after transplant. We found recipients averaged 1.7 unique residential addresses, a modest relocation rate. Lung rejection was associated with census tracts of predominantly underrepresented minorities or where English was not the primary language as measured by the social vulnerability index. Census tracts likely play an important role in measuring and addressing geographic disparities in transplantation. In a future paradigm, patient spatial data could become an integrated part of real time clinical care to aid in personalized risk stratification and personalized delivery of healthcare. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)
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24 pages, 5001 KiB  
Article
Understanding the Geography of Rape through the Integration of Data: Case Study of a Prolific, Mobile Serial Stranger Rapist Identified through Rape Kits
by Rachel E. Lovell, Danielle Sabo and Rachel Dissell
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(11), 6810; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116810 - 2 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4213
Abstract
Environmental criminological research on rape series is an understudied field due largely to deficiencies in official and publicly available data. Additionally, little is known about the spatial patterns of rapists with a large number of stranger rapes. With a unique integration and application [...] Read more.
Environmental criminological research on rape series is an understudied field due largely to deficiencies in official and publicly available data. Additionally, little is known about the spatial patterns of rapists with a large number of stranger rapes. With a unique integration and application of spatial, temporal, behavioral, forensic, investigative, and personal history data, we explore the geography of rape of a prolific, mobile serial stranger rapist identified through initiatives to address thousands of previously untested rape kits in two U.S. urban, neighboring jurisdictions. Rape kit data provide the opportunity for a more complete and comprehensive understanding of stranger rape series by linking crimes that likely never would have been linked if not for the DNA evidence. This study fills a knowledge gap by exploring the spatial offending patterns of extremely prolific serial stranger rapists. Through the lens of routine activities theory, we explore the motivated offender, the lack of capable guardianship (e.g., built environment), and the targeted victims. The findings have important implications for gaining practical and useful insight into rapists’ use of space and behavioral decision-making processes, effective public health interventions and prevention approaches, and urban planning strategies in communities subjected to repeat targeting by violent offenders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)
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9 pages, 675 KiB  
Article
Mapping Mobility: Utilizing Local-Knowledge-Derived Activity Space to Estimate Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution among Individuals Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness
by Maeve G. MacMurdo, Karen B. Mulloy, Daniel A. Culver, Charles W. Felix, Andrew J. Curtis, Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar and Jacqueline Curtis
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(10), 5842; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19105842 - 11 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3120
Abstract
Individuals experiencing homelessness represent a growing population in the United States. Air pollution exposure among individuals experiencing homelessness has not been quantified. Utilizing local knowledge mapping, we generated activity spaces for 62 individuals experiencing homelessness residing in a semi-rural county within the United [...] Read more.
Individuals experiencing homelessness represent a growing population in the United States. Air pollution exposure among individuals experiencing homelessness has not been quantified. Utilizing local knowledge mapping, we generated activity spaces for 62 individuals experiencing homelessness residing in a semi-rural county within the United States. Satellite derived measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were utilized to estimate annual exposure to air pollution experienced by our participants, as well as differences in the variation in estimated PM2.5 at the local scale compared with stationary monitor data and point location estimates for the same period. Spatial variation in exposure to PM2.5 was detected between participants at both the point and activity space level. Among all participants, annual median PM2.5 exposure was 16.22 μg/m3, exceeding the National Air Quality Standard. Local knowledge mapping represents a novel mechanism to capture mobility patterns and investigate exposure to air pollution within vulnerable populations. Reliance on stationary monitor data to estimate air pollution exposure may lead to exposure misclassification, particularly in rural and semirural regions where monitoring is limited. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Second Edition of the Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)
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