Document text
Principal Investigator: Craig Evan Pollack
Organization: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $1,515,196
Funding agency: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Project Summary
An estimated 41% of adults in the US and one in five of children are estimated to have obesity; over 37 million
Americans have diabetes and 96 million adults have prediabetes. Racial and socioeconomic disparities in obe-
sity and diabetes prevalence are well-documented, widespread, and persistent. Policies addressing the root
causes of health inequities are critical to understanding and ultimately eliminating disparities in obesity and dia-
betes risk. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) new, $50 million Community
Choice Demonstration seeks to test strategies that help low-income households overcome structural barriers
and entrenched racism that constrain their ability to move to lower-poverty ‘opportunity’ neighborhoods. The
Demonstration offers an exciting, time-sensitive chance to study the impact of this new targeted housing mobil-
ity program on obesity and diabetes risk, and, more broadly, provides a window into the mechanisms through
which neighborhoods impact obesity and diabetes risk for low-income populations. Starting in the Fall of 2022,
approximately 16,000 households will take part in a randomized controlled trial: one group will receive compre-
hensive mobility services such as security deposit assistance and landlord outreach to facilitate moving to a
lower-poverty neighborhood and a control group will not receive mobility services. This proposed project, the
Mobility Opportunity Vouchers to Eliminate Disparities (MOVED) Study, will recruit 900 households en-
rolled in the Demonstration from three sites (Pittsburgh, PA; Cleveland, OH; Nashville, TN). We will conduct
baseline and 2-year follow-up in-person surveys to investigate the extent to which the receipt of comprehen-
sive mobility services is associated with changes in measured BMI and HbA1c among adult and changes in
BMI z-score among children after 2 years compared to the control group (Aim 1). Aim 2 investigates outcomes
along the causal pathway, focusing on potential behavioral, psychosocial, contextual, and structural factors
that may differ between the intervention and control groups. Data for this aim includes validated question-
naires, geographically-derived data, and, among a subset of participants, accelerometry data on physical activ-
ity and sleep. Aim 3 uses in-depth qualitative interviews to delve deeper into potential mechanisms through
which moving to a lower-poverty neighborhood influences obesity and diabetes risk. The proposed research
answers recent national calls for innovative research on the impact of housing mobility and neighborhoods on
health and, working with HUD and other stakeholders, offers a time-sensitive chance to provide foundational,
policy-relevant knowledge designed to reduce inequities in obesity and diabetes.
Terms: <0-11 years old><21+ years old><Accelerometer><Active Follow-up><Address><Adult><Adult Human><American><Application Context><Area><BMI><BMI percentile><BMI z-score><Behavioral><Body mass index><Characteristics><Child><Child Youth><Children (0-21)><Collaborations><Communities><Community Developments><Congresses><Control Groups><Data><Data Collection><Deposit><Deposition><Diabetes Mellitus><Diet><Enrollment><Exhibits><Experimental Designs><Family><Fees><Food><Funding><Geography><Glycohemoglobin A><Glycosylated hemoglobin A><Hb A1><Hb A1a+b><Hb A1c><HbA1><HbA1c><Health><Health Benefit><Health Inequity><Health Promotion><Hemoglobin A(1)><Household><Housing><Housing and Urban Development><Impoverished><Impoverished Areas><Impoverished Regions><Inequalities in Health><Inequities in Health><Inequity><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Interview><Knowledge><Life Cycle><Life Cycle Stages><Literature><Low Income Population><Low income><Low income group><Measures><Mediating><Mental Health><Mental Hygiene><Neighborhoods><Obesity><Outcome><Participant><Pathway interactions><Persons><Physical activity><Play><Policies><Poverty><Poverty Areas><Poverty Regions><Prediabetes><Prediabetes syndrome><Prediabetic State><Prevalence><Psychological Health><Psychosocial Factor><Questionnaires><Quetelet index><Randomized><Randomized, Controlled Trials><Research><Research Resources><Resources><Role><SES disparity><Salutogenesis><Sampling><Security><Services><Shapes><Site><Sleep><Social Service><Social Work><Social support><Structural Racism><Survey Instrument><Surveys><Testing><Time><U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development><accelerometry><access to health care><access to healthcare><accessibility of health care><accessibility to health care><accessibility to healthcare><active followup><activity monitor><activity tracker><adiposity><adult adiposity><adult obesity><adulthood><adults with obesity><arm><barriers to implementation><child adiposity><child obesity><childhood adiposity><childhood obesity><compare to control><comparison control><contextual factors><corpulence><cost><design><designing><diabetes><diabetes risk><diets><discrimination based on race><discrimination due to race><disparities in race><disparity due to race><disparity elimination><disparity in health><eliminate disparities><eliminating disparities><enroll><experience><experiment><experimental research><experimental study><experiments><exposure to violence><falls><follow up><follow-up><followed up><followup><health care access><health care availability><health care service access><health care service availability><health disparity><health inequalities><healthcare access><healthcare accessibility><healthcare availability><healthcare service access><healthcare service availability><hemoglobin A1c><hospitalization rates><implementation barriers><implementation challenges><inequality due to race><inequity due to race><innovate><innovation><innovative><interventional strategy><kids><life course><life style intervention><lifestyle intervention><low income individual><low income people><lower income families><obese children><obesity during childhood><obesity in children><obesity risk><outreach><pathway><pediatric obesity><poverty stricken areas><pre-diabetes><pre-diabetic><prediabetic><programs><promoting health><psychosocial><psychosocial variables><race based disparity><race based inequality><race based inequity><race discrimination><race disparity><race related disparity><race related inequality><race related inequity><race-based discrimination><race-related discrimination><racial discrimination><racial disparity><racial inequality><racial inequity><racially unequal><racism><randomisation><randomization><randomized control trial><randomly assigned><recruit><risk for obesity><risk of obesity><segregation><social><social role><social support network><socio-economic disparity><socio-economic inequality><socio-economic inequity><socioeconomic disparity><socioeconomic inequality><socioeconomic inequity><structural determinants><structural factors><treatment group><violence exposure><voucher><walkability><walkable><youngster>