Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
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The majority of overdose deaths in British Columbia (BC) occur among people using illicit substances alone in private residences. Some supportive housing in BC includes on-site access to a variety of health and substance use-related services. More recently, a number of supportive housing locations have started offering prescribed safer supply medications to people at high overdose risk, though these remain limited and under-evaluated. ⋯ Less than half (N = 12) of the study participants accessed on-site prescribed safer supply medications. Participants receiving on-site prescribed safer supply described positive benefits including reduced use of illicit opioids, and less reliance on illicit income generation activities. On-site prescribed safer supply programs within supportive housing environments are an important tool in addressing overdose risk.
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This study examined the characteristics of US tenants who reported delaying rent payments during the eviction moratoria in 2020 in respond to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A nationally representative sample of 3393 US tenants was assessed from May to June 2020 during a period that eviction moratoria were issued across the country. ⋯ Tenants who delayed paying rent were nearly 7 times as likely to be at risk of eviction, more than 3 times as likely to endorse recent suicidal ideation, and 1.6 times as likely to report recent illicit drug use compared to tenants who did not delay paying rent. These findings highlight the health and social needs of tenants in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Review
The Associations Between Urban Form and Major Non-communicable Diseases: a Systematic Review.
In the current century, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory diseases, are the most important cause of mortality all over the world. Given the effect of the built environment on people's health, the present study seeks to conduct a systematic review in order to investigate the relationship between urban form and these four major NCDs as well as their main risk factors. Two independent reviewers in November 2020 after an extensive search through PubMed and Scopus identified 77 studies. ⋯ The findings suggest that the elements of urban form (density, transportation and accessibility, characteristics of building and streetscape, land use, spatial layouts and configuration) could increase or inhibit these diseases through their effect on physical activity, diet, air pollution, blood pressure, and obesity. However, there are study shortages, contradictions, and ambiguities in these relationships which are mainly due to methodological and conceptual challenges. As a result, more in-depth research is needed to achieve solid and consistent results that could be made into clear guidelines for planning and designing healthier cities.
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Comparative Study
Urban Determinants of COVID-19 Spread: a Comparative Study across Three Cities in New York State.
The ongoing pandemic is laying bare dramatic differences in the spread of COVID-19 across seemingly similar urban environments. Identifying the urban determinants that underlie these differences is an open research question, which can contribute to more epidemiologically resilient cities, optimized testing and detection strategies, and effective immunization efforts. Here, we perform a computational analysis of COVID-19 spread in three cities of similar size in New York State (Colonie, New Rochelle, and Utica) aiming to isolate urban determinants of infections and deaths. ⋯ By critically comparing pandemic outcomes across the three cities under equivalent initial conditions, we provide compelling evidence in favor of the central role of hospitals. Specifically, with highly efficacious testing and detection, the number and capacity of hospitals, as well as the extent of vaccination of hospital employees are key determinants of COVID-19 spread. The modulating role of these determinants is reduced at lower efficacy of testing and detection, so that the pandemic outcome becomes equivalent across the three cities.