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Residential mobility impacts exposure assessment and community socioeconomic characteristics in longitudinal epidemiology studies

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 26, pages 428–434 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Epidemiologic studies commonly use residential locations to estimate environmental exposures or community-level characteristics. The impact of residential mobility on these characteristics, however, is rarely considered. The objective of this analysis was to examine the effect of residential mobility on estimates of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP), greenspace, and community-level characteristics. All residential addresses were reported from birth through age seven for children enrolled in the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study. Exposure to TRAP at each address was estimated using a land use model. Greenspace was estimated using satellite imagery. Indices of neighborhood deprivation and race were created based on socioeconomic-census tract measures. Exposure estimates using the birth record address, the last known address, and the annual address history were used to determine exposure estimation error and bias in the association with asthma at age seven. Overall, 54% of the cohort moved at least once prior to age seven. Each move was separated by a median of 4 miles and associated with a median decrease of 4.4% in TRAP exposure, a 5.3% increase in greenspace, an improved deprivation index, and no change in the race index. Using the birth record address or the last known address instead of the annual address history resulted in exposure misclassification leading to a bias toward the null when associating the exposures with asthma. Using a single address to estimate environmental exposures and community-level characteristics over a time period may result in differential assessment error.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the study and clinic staff for their efforts in study coordination, subject recruitment, data management, and data collection. They also thank the participating CCAAPS families for their time and effort. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (5R01ES011170 and R01ES019890).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Cole Brokamp, Grace K LeMasters & Patrick H Ryan

  2. Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Grace K LeMasters

  3. Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Patrick H Ryan

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  1. Cole Brokamp
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Correspondence to Patrick H Ryan.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology website

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Brokamp, C., LeMasters, G. & Ryan, P. Residential mobility impacts exposure assessment and community socioeconomic characteristics in longitudinal epidemiology studies. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 26, 428–434 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2016.10

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