Wireless Movement Activity and Cardiometabolic Disease Risk in Historical Redlined Areas

Composite mobility patterns may better model built environment exposures, yet are rarely implemented to understand the prevalence of cardiometabolic disease (CMD).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between a novel Wireless Movement Index (WMI) and prevalent CMD redlined U.S. census tracts.

The Homeowners Loan Corporation (HOLC) was used to identify census tracts graded A-D and their age-adjusted prevalence (2019) for systolic hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, chronic kidney disease, and stroke were collected. From nationally representative cell-phone tracking data, the WMI was constructed to identify population-level movement patterns and visits to points of interest. The association between WMI and disease prevalence was investigated using multivariable linear regression models across HOLC grades.

Among 16,352 tracts, 4,458 were classified as HOLC grades A-B, 7,572 as grade C, and 4,322 as grade D. Grade D tract residents reported 55% of their visits to other grade D census tracts, with only 9% to grade A/B census tracts. The WMI was negatively associated with CMD prevalence across all HOLC grades, but this protective association was most pronounced in redlined areas. In grade D tracts, each unit increase in WMI was associated with a -2.33 (95% CI: -2.79 to -1.86), -2.93 (95% CI: -3.42 to -2.45), and -0.99 (95% CI: -1.30 to -0.68) decrease in prevalent hypertension, obesity, and diabetes.

Even among redlined census tracts, those that reported a higher WMI (indicative of more frequent and diverse mobility) were likely to have better population-level cardiometabolic health. WMI may serve as a scalable, dynamic proxy for environmental opportunity and structural inequity.