The influence of neighbourhood equity on parkrunners in a British city

Summary Physical activity benefits both physical and mental health. Specific events may augment participation in physical activity at a population level. Parkrun is a popular, free, weekly, timed 5 km run or walk in public spaces located in five continents. However, these events may be distributed inequitably, possibly reinforcing inequities in health. As a prelude to a comprehensive analysis of a larger dataset, we explore a hypothesis that participation in parkrun is influenced by the socio-economic characteristics of both parkrunners and their park. Two parkruns, 4.5 km apart, were selected in the city of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Defined by indices of multiple deprivation, Castle parkrun is located in an economically deprived neighbourhood and Hallam parkrun is in a prosperous area of the city. Parkrunners were defined by applying these same indices to the neighbourhood of home registration. Results: (i) the prosperous Hallam catchment area produced over five times more parkrun participants than Castle; (ii) compared with Castle, Hallam parkrun attracted more participants from both catchment areas; (iii) consequently, Hallam parkrun had seven times more participants than Castle parkrun. Conclusion: establishing parkruns in deprived areas is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite for equity of participation in this heath promoting activity.

Using hierarchical clustering to explore patterns of deprivation among English local authorities

Background The English Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is widely used as a measure of deprivation. However, similarly ranked areas can differ substantially in the underlying domains of deprivation. These domains contain a richer set of data that might be useful for classifying local authorities. Clustering methods offer a set of techniques to identify groups of areas with similar patterns of deprivation. Methods Hierarchical agglomerative (i.e. bottom-up) clustering methods were applied to domain scores for 152 upper tier local authorities. Advances in statistical testing allow clusters to be identified that are unlikely to have arisen from random partitioning of a homogeneous group. The resulting clusters are described in terms of their subdomain scores and basic geographic and demographic characteristics. Results Five statistically significant clusters of local authorities were identified. These clusters only partially reflect different levels of overall deprivation. In particular, two clusters share similar overall IMD scores but have contrasting patterns of deprivation. Conclusion Hierarchical clustering methods identify five distinct clusters that do not correspond closely to quintiles of deprivation. This approach may help to distinguish between places that face similar underlying challenges, and places that appear similar in terms of overall deprivation scores, but that face different challenges.

Using Linked Longitudinal Administrative Data to Identify Social Disadvantage

Administrative data are widely used to construct indicators of social disadvantage, such as Free School Meals eligibility and Indices of Multiple Deprivation, for policy purposes. For research these indicators are often a compromise between accuracy and simplicity, because they rely on cross-sectional data. The growing availability of longitudinal administrative data may aid construction of more accurate indicators for research. To illustrate this potential, we use administrative data on welfare benefits from DWP’s National Benefits Database and annual earnings from employment from HMRC’s P14/P60 data to reconstruct individual labour market histories over a 5-year period. These administrative datasets were linked to survey data from the Poverty and Social Exclusion UK 2012. Results from descriptive and logistic regression analyses show that longitudinal measures correlate highly with survey responses on the same topic and are stronger predictors of poverty risks than measures based on cross-sectional data. These results suggest that longitudinal administrative measures would have potentially wide-ranging applications in policy as well as poverty research.

Using Hierarchical Clustering to Explore Patterns of Deprivation Among English Local Authorities

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe English Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is widely used as a measure of deprivation of geographic areas in analyses of health inequalities between places. However, similarly ranked areas can differ substantially in the underlying domains and indicators that are used to calculate the IMD score. These domains and indicators contain a richer set of data that might be useful for classifying local authorities. Clustering methods offer a set of techniques to identify groups of areas with similar patterns of deprivation. This could offer insights into areas that face similar challenges.MethodsHierarchical agglomerative (i.e. bottom-up) clustering methods were applied to sub-domain scores for 152 upper-tier local authorities. Recent advances in statistical testing allow clusters to be identified that are unlikely to have arisen from random partitioning of a homogeneous group. The resulting clusters are described in terms of their subdomain scores and basic geographic and demographic characteristics.ResultsFive statistically significant clusters of local authorities were identified. These clusters represented local authorities that were:Most deprived, predominantly urban;Least deprived, predominantly rural;Less deprived, rural;Deprived, high crime, high barriers to housing; andDeprived, low education, poor employment, poor health.ConclusionHierarchical clustering methods identify five distinct clusters that do not correspond closely to quintiles of deprivation. These methods can be used to draw on the richer set of information contained in the IMD domains and may help to identify places that face similar challenges, and places that appear similar in terms of IMD scores, but that face different challenges.

Deprivation, policy and rurality: The limitations and applications of area-based deprivation indices in Scotland

Indices of multiple deprivation have become increasingly sophisticated and high profile as a means of identifying and targeting deprived areas and populations. However, these have been challenged on a number of grounds, both conceptual and practical, with particular concerns about their applicability to rural areas. At the same time, there is little research on how such measures are used in practice or how they influence policies or the allocation of resources. This paper seeks to quantify the effectiveness of this type of measure in terms of inclusion or exclusion of deprived populations implied by targeting areas based on the results of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. The results show that the proportion of deprived individuals within these apparently most deprived areas varies widely across different regions. However, this was not strongly related to rurality, suggesting that claims of an inherent bias against rural regions resulting from the use of these measures should be treated with caution. Nevertheless, this analysis demonstrates potential drawbacks to the uncritical reliance on indices of multiple deprivation as a basis for policy and highlights the need for the aims and rationales of such approaches to be more clearly articulated.

Shooting up? Analysis of 182 gunshot injuries presenting to a London major trauma centre over a seven-year period

Introduction Metropolitan Police data, and those from the emergency department at a London major trauma centre show a resurgence in gun crime. The aim of this study was to collect data on all gunshot injuries over a seven-year period at South-East London’s trauma hub. Materials and methods This was a retrospective observational study of all gunshot injuries between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2016 at a London major trauma centre. Information regarding patient demographics, morbidity and mortality was collected. Data from the English indices of multiple deprivation were reviewed in relation to shooting locations and socioeconomic status in South-East London. Results A total of 182 patients from 939,331 emergency admissions presented with firearm injuries. Males comprised 178 (97.8%) victims and 124 (68.1%) were documented as being Black or Afro-Caribbean. The median age was 22 years. Some 124 (71.7%) victims were shot within a 4 km radius of the hospital. The mean indices of multiple deprivation decile ranking in shooting locations compared with non-shooting locations was 2.6 (± 0.1384) and 3.8 (± 0.1149), respectively. A total of 122 (67.0%) patients underwent specialist operative intervention and 111 (61.0%) suffered only superficial or musculoskeletal injuries. Six patients required emergency thoracotomies; three (50.0%) survived to discharge. The median length of stay was 4 days (interquartile range 2–9 days) and 35 (24.0%) were admitted to intensive care. Ten (5.5%) patients died. Discussion and conclusion Firearms injuries are increasing and place a significant burden on hospital resources. Care provided to gunshot victims has improved as a result of recent trauma management initiatives at South-East London’s major trauma centre.