Environmental Risk and Adverse Perinatal Health Indicators in New York City: A Geospatial Hotspot Analysis.

Area of Science:

• Environmental health
• Perinatal epidemiology
• Geospatial analysis

Background:

• Environmental exposures are linked to adverse perinatal health and birth outcomes.
• Identifying geographic disparities in these outcomes is crucial for public health.
• Urban environmental risk areas may disproportionately affect maternal and infant health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the overlap between urban environmental risk areas and hotspots of adverse perinatal health indicators in New York City.
• To assess the association between environmental risk areas and specific indicators: preterm birth, adolescent pregnancy, and pre-pregnancy obesity.
• To determine if environmental risk designation can serve as a measure of perinatal health vulnerability.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 2,101 NYC census tracts (575,257 births, 2016-2020).
• Employed the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic to identify geospatial hotspots of adverse perinatal indicators.
• Applied multivariable logistic and Poisson regression to analyze associations between environmental risk and hotspot status/overlap.

Main Results:

• 54.6% of environmental risk areas were hotspots for at least one adverse perinatal indicator.
• Environmental risk areas showed significantly higher odds for preterm birth (aOR=2.11), adolescent pregnancy (aOR=32.8), and pre-pregnancy obesity (aOR=3.15).
• Environmental risk areas had 3.36 times the expected number of overlapping adverse perinatal health hotspots.

Conclusions:

• A significant overlap exists between urban environmental risk areas and hotspots of adverse perinatal health indicators in NYC.
• Environmental risk designation is strongly associated with increased odds of adverse perinatal outcomes.
• These findings suggest environmental risk areas are valuable for identifying vulnerable populations and targeting community interventions for improved perinatal health.