Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American cities

Abstract Urbanization results in increased numbers of people living in cities and poses challenges and opportunities to public health policies. Studies of urban scaling have unveiled how cities’ socio-economic and infrastructural attributes vary systematically with city size. Previous studies have e...

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Main Authors: Aureliano S. S. Paiva, Usama Bilal, Roberto F. S. Andrade, Claudiano C. Cruz Neto, J. Firmino de Sousa Filho, Gervásio F. Santos, Maurício L. Barreto, Daniel A. Rodriguez, Pricila Mullachery, Brisa Sanchez, Ana V. Diez-Roux, Felipe Montes, Andrés Trotta, Tania Alfaro, J. Jaime Miranda, Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-03-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92087-5
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author Aureliano S. S. Paiva
Usama Bilal
Roberto F. S. Andrade
Claudiano C. Cruz Neto
J. Firmino de Sousa Filho
Gervásio F. Santos
Maurício L. Barreto
Daniel A. Rodriguez
Pricila Mullachery
Brisa Sanchez
Ana V. Diez-Roux
Felipe Montes
Andrés Trotta
Tania Alfaro
J. Jaime Miranda
Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez
author_facet Aureliano S. S. Paiva
Usama Bilal
Roberto F. S. Andrade
Claudiano C. Cruz Neto
J. Firmino de Sousa Filho
Gervásio F. Santos
Maurício L. Barreto
Daniel A. Rodriguez
Pricila Mullachery
Brisa Sanchez
Ana V. Diez-Roux
Felipe Montes
Andrés Trotta
Tania Alfaro
J. Jaime Miranda
Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez
author_sort Aureliano S. S. Paiva
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Urbanization results in increased numbers of people living in cities and poses challenges and opportunities to public health policies. Studies of urban scaling have unveiled how cities’ socio-economic and infrastructural attributes vary systematically with city size. Previous studies have explored the scaling properties of health outcomes across metropolitan areas in different countries, but chronic diseases have been infrequently examined. This paper examines scaling behaviors of 4 cardiovascular risk factors: hypertension, diabetes, tobacco smoking, and obesity across 230 cities in six countries of Latin America. In analyses pooled across countries, diabetes and hypertension showed weakly superlinear scaling (higher prevalence in larger cities). In comparison, obesity showed linear scaling, and tobacco showed weakly sublinear scaling (lower prevalence in larger cities), although most coefficients did not differ significantly from the null. In country-specific analyses, hypertension and diabetes tended to show a superlinear pattern across most countries, obesity tended to show a sublinear pattern in most countries, and tobacco tended to be superlinear (in contrast to the analysis pooled across countries where it was sublinear). Results suggest the need to examine further the drivers of this varying scaling of risk factors.
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spelling doaj-art-83c4ce2a8e384134925aef0dc8830ae72025-08-20T02:16:34ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-03-0115111010.1038/s41598-025-92087-5Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American citiesAureliano S. S. Paiva0Usama Bilal1Roberto F. S. Andrade2Claudiano C. Cruz Neto3J. Firmino de Sousa Filho4Gervásio F. Santos5Maurício L. Barreto6Daniel A. Rodriguez7Pricila Mullachery8Brisa Sanchez9Ana V. Diez-Roux10Felipe Montes11Andrés Trotta12Tania Alfaro13J. Jaime Miranda14Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez15Center of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo MonizUrban Health Collaborative, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel Dornsife School of Public HealthCenter of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo MonizCenter of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo MonizCenter of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo MonizCenter of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo MonizCenter of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo MonizDepartment of City and Regional Planning and Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California BerkeleyUrban Health Collaborative, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel Dornsife School of Public HealthUrban Health Collaborative, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel Dornsife School of Public HealthUrban Health Collaborative, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel Dornsife School of Public HealthDepartment of Industrial Engineering, Social and Health Complexity Center, Universidad de los AndesInstitute of Collective Health, Universidad Nacional de LanúsEscuela de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de ChileCRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano HerediaCenter for Population Health Research, National Institute of Public HealthAbstract Urbanization results in increased numbers of people living in cities and poses challenges and opportunities to public health policies. Studies of urban scaling have unveiled how cities’ socio-economic and infrastructural attributes vary systematically with city size. Previous studies have explored the scaling properties of health outcomes across metropolitan areas in different countries, but chronic diseases have been infrequently examined. This paper examines scaling behaviors of 4 cardiovascular risk factors: hypertension, diabetes, tobacco smoking, and obesity across 230 cities in six countries of Latin America. In analyses pooled across countries, diabetes and hypertension showed weakly superlinear scaling (higher prevalence in larger cities). In comparison, obesity showed linear scaling, and tobacco showed weakly sublinear scaling (lower prevalence in larger cities), although most coefficients did not differ significantly from the null. In country-specific analyses, hypertension and diabetes tended to show a superlinear pattern across most countries, obesity tended to show a sublinear pattern in most countries, and tobacco tended to be superlinear (in contrast to the analysis pooled across countries where it was sublinear). Results suggest the need to examine further the drivers of this varying scaling of risk factors.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92087-5Urban healthCardiovascular diseaseUrban scalingProportionLatin America
spellingShingle Aureliano S. S. Paiva
Usama Bilal
Roberto F. S. Andrade
Claudiano C. Cruz Neto
J. Firmino de Sousa Filho
Gervásio F. Santos
Maurício L. Barreto
Daniel A. Rodriguez
Pricila Mullachery
Brisa Sanchez
Ana V. Diez-Roux
Felipe Montes
Andrés Trotta
Tania Alfaro
J. Jaime Miranda
Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez
Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American cities
Scientific Reports
Urban health
Cardiovascular disease
Urban scaling
Proportion
Latin America
title Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American cities
title_full Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American cities
title_fullStr Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American cities
title_full_unstemmed Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American cities
title_short Scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 Latin American cities
title_sort scaling of cardiovascular risk factors in 230 latin american cities
topic Urban health
Cardiovascular disease
Urban scaling
Proportion
Latin America
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-92087-5
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