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Scientific question: With the new individual- and activity-based approaches to simulating exposure to air pollutants, exposure models must now provide synthetic populations that realistically reflect the demographic profiles of individuals in an urban territory. Demographic profiles condition the behavior of individuals in urban space (activities, mobility) and determine the resulting risks of exposure and environmental inequalities. In this context, there is a strong need to determine the relevance of the population modeling methods to reproduce the combinations of socio-demographic parameters in a population from the existing databases. The difficulty of accessing complete, high-resolution databases indeed proves to be very limiting for the ambitions of the different approaches. Objective: This work proposes to evaluate the potential of a statistical approach for the numerical modeling of synthetic populations, at the scale of dwellings and including the representation of coherent socio-demographic profiles. The approach is based on and validated against the existing open databases. The ambition is to be able to build upon such synthetic populations to produce a comprehensive assessment of the risk of environmental exposure that can be cross-referenced with lifestyles, indicators of social, professional or demographic category, and even health vulnerability data. Method: The approach implemented here is based on the use of conditional probabilities to model the socio-demographic properties of individuals, via the deployment of a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) simulation. Households are assigned to housing according to income and house price classes. The resulting population generation model was tested in the Paris region (Ile de France) for the year 2010, and applied to a population of almost 12 million individuals. The approach is based on the use of census and survey databases. Results: Validation, carried out by comparison with regional census data, shows that the model accurately reproduces the demographic attributes of individuals (age, gender, professional category, income) as well as their combination, at both regional and sub-municipal levels. Notably, population distribution at the scale of the model buildings remains consistent with observed data patterns. Conclusions and relevance: The outcomes of this work demonstrate the ability of our approach to create, from public data, a coherent synthetic population with broad socio-demographic profiles. They give confidence for the use of this approach in an activity-based air quality exposure study, and thus for exploring the interrelations between social determinants and environmental risks. The non-specific nature of this work allows us to consider its extension to broader demographic profiles, including health indicators, and to different study regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-economic and geographical inequalities in breast cancer mortality have been widely described in European countries and the United States. To investigate the combined effects of geographic access and socio-economic characteristics on breast cancer outcomes, a systematic review was conducted exploring the relationships between: (i) geographic access to healthcare facilities (oncology services, mammography screening), defined as travel time and/or travel distance; (ii) breast cancer-related outcomes (mammography screening, stage of cancer at diagnosis, type of treatment and rate of mortality); (iii) socioeconomic status (SES) at individuals and residential context levels. In total, n = 25 studies (29 relationships tested) were included in our systematic review. The four main results are: The statistical significance of the relationship between geographic access and breast cancer-related outcomes is heterogeneous: 15 were identified as significant and 14 as non-significant. Women with better geographic access to healthcare facilities had a statistically significant fewer mastectomy (n = 4/6) than women with poorer geographic access. The relationship with the stage of the cancer is more balanced (n = 8/17) and the relationship with cancer screening rate is not observed (n = 1/4). The type of measures of geographic access (distance, time or geographical capacity) does not seem to have any influence on the results. For example, studies which compared two different measures (travel distance and travel time) of geographic access obtained similar results. The relationship between SES characteristics and breast cancer-related outcomes is significant for several variables: at individual level, age and health insurance status; at contextual level, poverty rate and deprivation index. Of the 25 papers included in the review, the large majority (n = 24) tested the independent effect of geographic access. Only one study explored the combined effect of geographic access to breast cancer facilities and SES characteristics by developing stratified models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We aimed to examine the associations of both objectively assessed and perceived physical and social neighborhood characteristics with happiness in European adults. In addition, we aimed to study how these associations differed among subgroups. Methods: Participants (N = 6037) of the cross-sectional SPOTLIGHT survey reported on their level of happiness using a 5-point Likert scale, and on perceived physical and social environmental neighborhood characteristics. Objective physical environmental characteristics were assessed using a Google Street View-based neighborhood audit. Associations of 14 physical and social environmental characteristics with happiness were analyzed using multivariable multinomial regression analyses with clustered standard errors. Results: Living in neighborhoods with higher levels of aesthetics and more water and green space was associated with being very happy. Individuals who perceived their neighborhood to be safer, more functional and more aesthetic were more likely to be very happy. The associations of functionality and aesthetics with happiness were strongest in the Ghent region (Belgium), the Randstad (the Netherlands) and Greater London (United Kingdom). Perceived absence of air pollution was only associated with higher levels of happiness in more highly educated participants. Individuals with a larger social network, more social cohesion and who trusted their neighbors were more likely to be very happy. The association between social networks and happiness was somewhat stronger in men than in women. In general, the associations between environmental characteristics and happiness had similar directions and sizes across socio-economic and socio-demographic subgroups. Conclusions: This European study provided evidence that both objectively assessed and perceived physical and social characteristics of the neighborhood environment are associated with the happiness of its residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that active mobility, mainly walking and cycling, contributes to people’s physical and mental health. One of the current challenges is to improve our understanding of this type of behaviour. This study aims to identify factors from the daily-life environment that may be related to active mobility behaviours, in order to design a new questionnaire for a quantitative study of a large adult population. The new questionnaire obtained through this pilot study combines information from interviews with existing questionnaires materials in order to introduce new factors while retaining the factors already assessed. This approach comprises three stages. The first was a content analysis (Reinert method) of interviews with a sample of participants about daily living activities as well as mobility. This stage led to a typology of factors suggested by interviews. The second was a scoping review of the literature in order to identify the active mobility questionnaires currently used in international literature. The last stage was a cross-tabulation of the factors resulting from the written interviews and the questionnaires. A table of the inter-relationships between the interview-based typology and the questionnaires shows discrepancies between factors considered by the existing questionnaires, and factors coming from individual interviews. Independent factors which were ignored in or absent from the questionnaires are the housing situation within the urban structure, overall consideration of the activity space beyond the limits of the residential neighbourhood, the perception of all the transportation modes, and the time scheduling impacting the modes actually used. Our new questionnaire integrates both the usual factors and the new factors that may be related to active mobility behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in sedentary behaviours and physical activity according to retirement status need to be better defined. Retirement is a critical life period that may influence a number of health behaviours. We assessed past-year sedentary behaviours (television, computer and reading time during leisure, occupational and domestic sitting time, in h/week) and physical activity (leisure, occupational and domestic, in h/week) over 6 years (2000–2001 and 2007) using the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire in 2,841 participants (mean age: 57.3±5.0 y) of the SU.VI.MAX (Supplementation with Antioxidants and Minerals) cohort. Analyses were performed according to retirement status. Subjects retired in 2001 and 2007 (40%) were those who spent most time in sedentary behaviour and in physical activity during and outside leisure (p<0.001). Leisure-time sedentary behaviours increased in all subjects during follow-up (p<0.001), but subjects who retired between 2001 and 2007 (31%) were those who reported the greatest changes (+8.4±0.42 h/week for a combined indicator of leisure-time sedentary behaviour). They also had the greatest increase in time spent in leisure-time physical activity (+2.5±0.2 h/week). In subjects not retired 2001 and 2007 (29%), changes in time spent watching television were found positively associated with an increase in occupational physical activity (p = 0.04) and negatively associated with changes in leisure-time physical activity (p = 0.02). No consistent association between changes in sedentary behaviours and changes in physical activity was observed in subjects retired in 2001 and 2007. Public health interventions should target retiring age populations not only to encourage physical activity but also to limit sedentary behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The deleterious health effects of sedentary behaviors, independent of physical activity, are increasingly being recognized. However, associations with cognitive performance are not known. Purpose: To estimate the associations between different sedentary behaviors and cognitive performance in healthy older adults. Methods: Computer use, time spent watching television (TV), time spent reading and habitual physical activity levels were self-reported twice (in 2001 and 2007) by participants in the SUpplémentation en Vitamines et MinérauX (SU.VI.MAX and SU.VI.MAX2) study. Cognitive performance was assessed at follow-up (in 2007--2009) via a battery of 6 neuropsychological tests used to derive verbal memory and executive functioning scores. Analyses (ANCOVA) were performed among 1425 men and 1154 women aged 65.6±4.5 at the time of the neuropsychological evaluation. We estimated mean differences with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) in cognitive performance across categories of each type of sedentary behavior. Results: In multivariable cross-sectional models, compared to non-users, participants using the computer for >1 h/day displayed better verbal memory (mean difference = 1.86; 95%CI: 0.95, 2.77) and executive functioning (mean difference = 2.15; 95%CI: 1.22, 3.08). A negative association was also observed between TV viewing and executive functioning. Additionally, participants who increased their computer use by more than 30 min between 2001 and 2007 showed better performance on both verbal memory (mean difference = 1.41; 95%CI: 0.55, 2.27) and executive functioning (mean difference = 1.41; 95%CI: 0.53, 2.28) compared to those who decreased their computer use during that period. Conclusion: Specific sedentary behaviors are differentially associated with cognitive performance. In contrast to TV viewing, regular computer use may help maintain cognitive function during the aging process. Clinical Trial Registration: clinicaltrial.gov (number NCT00272428). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previous research on the influence of the food environment on weight status has often used impersonal measures of the food environment defined for residential neighborhoods, which ignore whether people actually use the food outlets near their residence. To assess whether supermarkets are relevant contexts for interventions, the present study explored between-residential neighborhood and between-supermarket variations in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), and investigated associations between brands and characteristics of supermarkets and BMI or WC, after adjustment for individual and residential neighborhood characteristics. Methods: Participants in the RECORD Cohort Study (Paris Region, France, 2007-2008) were surveyed on the supermarket (brand and exact location) where they conducted their food shopping. Overall, 7 131 participants shopped in 1 097 different supermarkets. Cross-classified multilevel linear models were estimated for BMI and WC. Results: Just 11.4% of participants shopped for food primarily within their residential neighborhood. After accounting for participants' residential neighborhood, people shopping in the same supermarket had a more comparable BMI and WC than participants shopping in different supermarkets. After adjustment for individual and residential neighborhood characteristics, participants shopping in specific supermarket brands, in hard discount supermarkets (especially if they had a low education), and in supermarkets whose catchment area comprised low educated residents had a higher BMI/WC. Conclusion: A public health strategy to reduce excess weight may be to intervene on specific supermarkets to change food purchasing behavior, as supermarkets are where dietary preferences are materialized into definite purchased foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previous research on the influence of the food environment on weight status has often used impersonal measures of the food environment defined for residential neighborhoods, which ignore whether people actually use the food outlets near their residence. To assess whether supermarkets are relevant contexts for interventions, the present study explored between-residential neighborhood and between-supermarket variations in body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), and investigated associations between brands and characteristics of supermarkets and BMI or WC, after adjustment for individual and residential neighborhood characteristics., Methods: Participants in the RECORD Cohort Study (Paris Region, France, 2007-2008) were surveyed on the supermarket (brand and exact location) where they conducted their food shopping. Overall, 7 131 participants shopped in 1 097 different supermarkets. Cross-classified multilevel linear models were estimated for BMI and WC., Results: Just 11.4% of participants shopped for food primarily within their residential neighborhood. After accounting for participants' residential neighborhood, people shopping in the same supermarket had a more comparable BMI and WC than participants shopping in different supermarkets. After adjustment for individual and residential neighborhood characteristics, participants shopping in specific supermarket brands, in hard discount supermarkets (especially if they had a low education), and in supermarkets whose catchment area comprised low educated residents had a higher BMI/WC., Conclusion: A public health strategy to reduce excess weight may be to intervene on specific supermarkets to change food purchasing behavior, as supermarkets are where dietary preferences are materialized into definite purchased foods.