Assessing daily dynamic exposures to built environmental characteristics during pregnancy and early postpartum using smartphone geolocation data

Keywords: Built Environment, Environmental Exposure, Mobility Patterns, Physical Activity, Pregnancy
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 41

Abstract

Introduction: Emerging research has associated built environmental characteristics (e.g., access to parks, walkability) with physical activity and health during pregnancy. Hispanic communities in Los Angeles are disproportionally under-resourced with built environment characteristics that support physical activity behaviors. However, most studies assess exposures to built environmental characteristics within residential neighborhoods, which may not capture dynamic exposures encountered in activity spaces in daily life. We aimed to evaluate exposure measurement error using a residential compared to dynamic exposures.

Methods: Sixty-two pregnant, Hispanic women enrolled in the MADRES cohort completed four days of continuous geolocation monitoring in three waves (i.e., 1st and 3rd trimester and 4-6 months postpartum). Dynamic exposures to greenness and walkable environments, and access to parks and public transits were estimated along daily movement routes and time-weighted activity surfaces. Spearman correlation was used to compare exposure estimates from dynamic and residential approaches for built environmental characteristics.

Results: Residential versus dynamic estimates of daily exposures to parks/open spaces and green spaces/trees along walkable streets were poorly correlated in the 3rd trimester. Measure errors were even greater during the 1st trimester and at 4-6 months postpartum, and in days with larger geographical sizes of activity spaces.

Conclusion: Our results indicate the residential approach is likely to misclassify pregnant women’s daily exposures to built environmental characteristics, particularly for green spaces, in early pregnancy and postpartum, and days with larger activity spaces.