54: A Model-based clustering approach to characterize neighborhood food environments in hot-spot regions

Music City Center 

West Virginia has been identified as a colorectal cancer hotspot region, due to its rising incidence and mortality among younger men. A healthy diet has been found to lower the risk of colorectal cancer. Yet, limited access to healthy food sources introduces an environment for poor diet and further exacerbates disparities by neighborhood. Many studies focus on a narrow set of food sources (e.g., fast food or grocery stores), limiting our full understanding of neighborhood food environments. A comprehensive view of both healthy and unhealthy food sources can improve our ability to assess their impact on health disparities. Using a high-dimensional framework for food sources, we implement model-based clustering techniques to generate neighborhood food environment profiles. Leveraging data from the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA) and the U.S. Census, we apply this model to West Virginia to identify areas within the state that may limit opportunities for a healthy diet and its impact on colorectal cancer risk.

model-based clustering

colorectal cancer

health disparities

neighborhood-level data

food access 

ENAR