The work of the LEAD Network has produced national geospatial data relevant to the study of Type 2 diabetes disparities in the US, including novel measures constructed using robust statistical and epidemiologic methods. These data are available to interested researchers.
This dataset contains two measures designed to be used in tandem to characterize US census tracts, originally developed for use in stratified analyses of the LEAD Network. The first measure is a 2010 tract-level community type categorization based on a modification of Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) Codes that incorporates census-designated urban areas and tract land area, with five categories: higher density urban, lower density urban, suburban/small town, rural, and undesignated (McAlexander, et al., 2022). The second measure is a neighborhood social and economic environment (NSEE) score, a community‐type stratified, z-score sum of 6 US census‐derived variables, with sums scaled between 0 and 100, computed for the year 2000 and 2010. A tract with a higher NSEE z‐score sum indicates more socioeconomic disadvantage compared to a tract with a low z‐score sum. Analysts should not compare NSEE scores across LEAD community types, as values have been computed and scaled within community type.
McAlexander TP, Algur YA, Schwartz BS, et al. Categorizing community type for epidemiologic evaluation of community factors and chronic disease across the United States. Soc Sci Humanit Open. 2022;5(1):100250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2022.100250
The land use environment (LUE) measure is a factor score from a multiple group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) based on seven components of the built environment: average block length, average block size, intersection density, street connectivity, establishment density, percent developed land, and household density. We excluded food and physical activity establishments from the establishment density measure, as the Network used separate variables for those types of establishments in our harmonized analyses.
Among tracts with the same community type designation, a tract with a higher LUE factor score indicates that it is more walkable than a tract with a lower score. An example interpretation is: “Higher density urban tract A with a LUE factor score of 4 is more walkable compared to higher density urban tract B with a score of 2.” The MGCFA fits the model structure within each LEAD community type, thus allowing factor loadings to differ for each community type. As a result of the model being fit within each LEAD community type, we cannot make comparisons across community types.
LUE data are available upon request for academic research purposes by completing the request form.
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For more information about the LUE construct and its equivalence across community types, see:
Meeker MA, Schwartz BS, Bandeen-Roche K, et al. Assessing measurement invariance of a land use environment construct across levels of urbanicity. GeoHealth. 2022 Oct 1;6(10):e2022GH000667. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GH000667
The LUE data and documentation pertaining to the work of Meeker et al., are available here.