Browsing by Author "Banerjee, Aniruddha"

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    Association of State Social and Environmental Factors With Rates of Self-injury Mortality and Suicide in the United States
    (AMA, 2022-02) Rockett, Ian R. H.; Jia, Haomiao; Ali, Bina; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Connery, Hilary S.; Nolte, Kurt B.; Miller, Ted; White, Franklin M. M.; DiGregorio, Bernard D.; Larkin, G. Luke; Stack, Steven; Kõlves, Kairi; McHugh, R. Kathryn; Lulla, Vijay O.; Cossman, Jeralynn; De Leo, Diego; Hendricks, Brian; Nestadt, Paul S.; Berry, James H.; D’Onofrio, Gail; Caine, Eric D.; Geography, School of Liberal Arts
    Importance Self-injury mortality (SIM) combines suicides and the preponderance of drug misuse–related overdose fatalities. Identifying social and environmental factors associated with SIM and suicide may inform etiologic understanding and intervention design. Objective To identify factors associated with interstate SIM and suicide rate variation and to assess potential for differential suicide misclassification. Design, Setting, and Participants This cross-sectional study used a partial panel time series with underlying cause-of-death data from 50 US states and the District of Columbia for 1999-2000, 2007-2008, 2013-2014 and 2018-2019. Applying data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SIM includes all suicides and the preponderance of unintentional and undetermined drug intoxication deaths, reflecting self-harm behaviors. Data were analyzed from February to June 2021. Exposures Exposures included inequity, isolation, demographic characteristics, injury mechanism, health care access, and medicolegal death investigation system type. Main Outcomes and Measures The main outcome, SIM, was assessed using unstandardized regression coefficients of interstate variation associations, identified by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator; ratios of crude SIM to suicide rates per 100 000 population were assessed for potential differential suicide misclassification. Results A total of 101 325 SIMs were identified, including 74 506 (73.5%) among males and 26 819 (26.5%) among females. SIM to suicide rate ratios trended upwards, with an accelerating increase in overdose fatalities classified as unintentional or undetermined (SIM to suicide rate ratio, 1999-2000: 1.39; 95% CI, 1.38-1.41; 2018-2019: 2.12; 95% CI, 2.11-2.14). Eight states recorded a SIM to suicide rate ratio less than 1.50 in 2018-2019 vs 39 states in 1999-2000. Northeastern states concentrated in the highest category (range, 2.10-6.00); only the West remained unrepresented. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator identified 8 factors associated with the SIM rate in 2018-2019: centralized medical examiner system (β = 4.362), labor underutilization rate (β = 0.728), manufacturing employment (β = −0.056), homelessness rate (β = −0.125), percentage nonreligious (β = 0.041), non-Hispanic White race and ethnicity (β = 0.087), prescribed opioids for 30 days or more (β = 0.117), and percentage without health insurance (β = −0.013) and 5 factors associated with the suicide rate: percentage male (β = 1.046), military veteran (β = 0.747), rural (β = 0.031), firearm ownership (β = 0.030), and pain reliever misuse (β = 1.131). Conclusions and Relevance These findings suggest that SIM rates were associated with modifiable, upstream factors. Although embedded in SIM, suicide unexpectedly deviated in proposed social and environmental determinants. Heterogeneity in medicolegal death investigation processes and data assurance needs further characterization, with the goal of providing the highest-quality reports for developing and tracking public health policies and practices.
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    Augmenting Indiana's groundwater level monitoring network: optimal siting of additional wells to address spatial and categorical sampling gaps
    (2014-11-21) Sperl, Benjamin J.; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Lulla, Vijay O.; Bein, Frederick L. (Frederick Louis), 1943-
    Groundwater monitoring networks are subject to change by budgetary actions and stakeholder initiatives that result in wells being abandoned or added. A strategy for network design is presented that addresses the latter situation. It was developed in response to consensus in the state of Indiana that additional monitoring wells are needed to effectively characterize water availability in aquifer systems throughout the state. The strategic methodology has two primary objectives that guide decision making for new installations: (1) purposive sampling of a diversity of environmental variables having relevance to groundwater recharge, and (2) spatial optimization by means of maximizing geographic distances that separate monitoring wells. Design objectives are integrated in a discrete facility location model known as the p-median problem, and solved to optimality using a mathematical programming package.
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    Availability of Supermarkets in Marion County
    (2010-07-20T15:32:53Z) Heintzelman, Asrah; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Wilson, Jeffrey S. (Jeffrey Scott), 1967-; Ottensmann, John R.
    Concern over significant increase in obesity has prompted interdisciplinary research to address the physical food environment in various regions. Empirical studies analyze units of geography independently of each other in studying the impact of the built environment in the health of a region. However, we know that geographical spaces have neighbors and these adjacent areas should be considered in analytical analysis that attempt to determine the effects present. This research incorporates the first neighbor influences by developing a refined hierarchical regression model that takes spatial autocorrelation and associated problems into account, based on Relative Risk of corporate supermarkets, to identify clustering of corporate supermarkets in Marion County. Using block groups as the unit of analysis, 3 models are run respectively incorporating population effect, environment effect, and interaction effects: interaction between population and environmental variables.Lastly, based on network distance to corporate supermarkets as a cost matrix, this work provides a solution to increase supermarkets in an optimal way and reduce access issues associated with these facilities. Ten new sites are identified where policy should be directed towards subsidizing entry of corporate supermarkets. These new sites are over and above the existing block groups that house corporate supermarkets. This solution is implemented using TransCAD™
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    Comparing Methods for Estimation of Daytime Population in Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana
    (2011-08-23) Bell, Karen Denise; Wilson, Jeffrey S. (Jeffrey Scott), 1967-; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Johnson, Daniel P. (Daniel Patrick), 1971-
    This paper compares two new methods for estimating daytime population against two existing models within downtown Indianapolis in Marion County, Indiana. The two existing models consist of the 2009 USA Daytime Population model created by ESRI and the LandScan Global Population Project developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A parking study of downtown Indianapolis, as prepared by the City of Indianapolis, Division of Metropolitan Development, is the basis of the first new method of estimating daytime population. The second method is a direct count of the daytime population using a methodology previously developed. Additionally, these four population estimates will be compared when applied to a scenario involving a hypothetical toxic gas plume.
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    Comparison of Sky View Factor Estimates using Digital Surface Models
    (2022-02) Adhikari, Bikalpa; Wilson, Jeffrey S.; Dwyer, Owen J.; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Thapa, Bhuwan
    Better comprehension of the Urban Heat Island study requires information on the natural as well as built characteristics of the environment at high spatial resolution. Sky View Factor (SVF) has been distinguished as a significant parameter for Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification based on environmental characteristics that influence the urban climate at finer spatial scales. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate currently available data sources and methods for deriving continuous SVF estimates. The specific objectives were to summarize the characteristics of currently available digital surface models (DSMs) of the study region and to compare the results of using these models to estimate SVF with three different raster-based algorithms: Horizon Search Algorithm in R-programming (Doninck, 2018), Relief Visualization Toolbox (RVT) (Žiga et al., 2016), and the Urban Multi-scale Environmental Predictor (UMEP) plugin in QGIS (Lindberg, et al., 2018).
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    Escalating costs of self-injury mortality in the 21st century United States: an interstate observational study
    (BMC, 2023-02-08) Rockett, Ian R. H.; Ali, Bina; Caine, Eric D.; Shepard, Donald S.; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Nolte, Kurt B.; Connery, Hilary S.; Larkin, G. Luke; Stack, Steven; White, Franklin M. M.; Jia, Haomiao; Cossman, Jeralynn S.; Feinberg, Judith; Stover, Amanda N.; Miller, Ted R.; Geography, School of Liberal Arts
    Background: Estimating the economic costs of self-injury mortality (SIM) can inform health planning and clinical and public health interventions, serve as a basis for their evaluation, and provide the foundation for broadly disseminating evidence-based policies and practices. SIM is operationalized as a composite of all registered suicides at any age, and 80% of drug overdose (intoxication) deaths medicolegally classified as 'accidents,' and 90% of corresponding undetermined (intent) deaths in the age group 15 years and older. It is the long-term practice of the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to subsume poisoning (drug and nondrug) deaths under the injury rubric. This study aimed to estimate magnitude and change in SIM and suicide costs in 2019 dollars for the United States (US), including the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Methods: Cost estimates were generated from underlying cause-of-death data for 1999/2000 and 2018/2019 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER). Estimation utilized the updated version of Medical and Work Loss Cost Estimation Methods for CDC's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Exposures were medical expenditures, lost work productivity, and future quality of life loss. Main outcome measures were disaggregated, annual-averaged total and per capita costs of SIM and suicide for the nation and states in 1999/2000 and 2018/2019. Results: 40,834 annual-averaged self-injury deaths in 1999/2000 and 101,325 in 2018/2019 were identified. Estimated national costs of SIM rose by 143% from $0.46 trillion to $1.12 trillion. Ratios of quality of life and work losses to medical spending in 2019 US dollars in 2018/2019 were 1,476 and 526, respectively, versus 1,419 and 526 in 1999/2000. Total national suicide costs increased 58%-from $318.6 billion to $502.7 billion. National per capita costs of SIM doubled from $1,638 to $3,413 over the observation period; costs of the suicide component rose from $1,137 to $1,534. States in the top quintile for per capita SIM, those whose cost increases exceeded 152%, concentrated in the Great Lakes, Southeast, Mideast and New England. States in the bottom quintile, those with per capita cost increases below 70%, were located in the Far West, Southwest, Plains, and Rocky Mountain regions. West Virginia exhibited the largest increase at 263% and Nevada the smallest at 22%. Percentage per capita cost increases for suicide were smaller than for SIM. Only the Far West, Southwest and Mideast were not represented in the top quintile, which comprised states with increases of 50% or greater. The bottom quintile comprised states with per capita suicide cost increases below 24%. Regions represented were the Far West, Southeast, Mideast and New England. North Dakota and Nevada occupied the extremes on the cost change continuum at 75% and - 1%, respectively. Conclusion: The scale and surge in the economic costs of SIM to society are large. Federal and state prevention and intervention programs should be financed with a clear understanding of the total costs-fiscal, social, and personal-incurred by deaths due to self-injurious behaviors.
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    Exploring spatial allocation techniques for the placement of food pantries: Madison County, Indiana
    (2017-02-01) Ashraf, Maria; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Wilson, Jeffery S.; Dwyer, Owen J.; Lulla, Vijay
    The thesis highlights the effectiveness of using location allocation model to find the optimum location of food pantries such that it serves maximum food insecure households. Since most households do not have personal means of transportation, the model makes sure that the food pantries are accessible at a walkable distance from the households. To reduce the shortage of food that the food pantries often face, the pantries are located near the food rescue sites like grocery stores, restaurants and institutional canteens. In this way, extra edible food with myriad choices can be diverted to the food insecure population at a walkable distance . Reducing food loss and food insecurity helps us move towards a better , more sustainable future.
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    Exploring Spatial Optimization Techniques for the Placement of Flow Monitors Utilized in RDII Studies
    (2010-08-31T14:31:55Z) Skehan, Christopher A.; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Johnson, Daniel P. (Daniel Patrick), 1971-; Wilson, Jeffrey S. (Jeffrey Scott), 1967-
    The aging infrastructure of a wastewater collection system can leak, capture ground water, and capture precipitation runoff. These are some of the most common problems in many of today’s US collection systems and are often collectively referred to as Rain Derived Inflow and Infiltration (RDII or I/I). The goal of this study is to investigate such optimized methods and their potential to improve flow monitor placement, especially for RDII studies, and to improve upon Stevens (2005) methodology. This project adopts a methodology from the “facility location problem”, a branch of operations research and graph theory. Solutions to a facility location problem will be adapted and utilized within a transportation GIS application to determine optimal placement.
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    EXTREME HEAT EVENT RISK MAP CREATION USING A RULE-BASED CLASSIFICATION APPROACH
    (2012-03-19) Simmons, Kenneth Rulon; Johnson, Daniel P. (Daniel Patrick), 1971-; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Wilson, Jeffrey S. (Jeffrey Scott), 1967-
    During a 2011 summer dominated by headlines about an earthquake and a hurricane along the East Coast, extreme heat that silently killed scores of Americans largely went unnoticed by the media and public. However, despite a violent spasm of tornadic activity that claimed over 500 lives during the spring of the same year, heat-related mortality annually ranks as the top cause of death incident to weather. Two major data groups used in researching vulnerability to extreme heat events (EHE) include socioeconomic indicators of risk and factors incident to urban living environments. Socioeconomic determinants such as household income levels, age, race, and others can be analyzed in a geographic information system (GIS) when formatted as vector data, while environmental factors such as land surface temperature are often measured via raster data retrieved from satellite sensors. The current research sought to combine the insights of both types of data in a comprehensive examination of heat susceptibility using knowledge-based classification. The use of knowledge classifiers is a non-parametric approach to research involving the creation of decision trees that seek to classify units of analysis by whether they meet specific rules defining the phenomenon being studied. In this extreme heat vulnerability study, data relevant to the deadly July 1995 heat wave in Chicago’s Cook County was incorporated into decision trees for 13 different experimental conditions. Populations vulnerable to heat were identified in five of the 13 conditions, with predominantly low-income African-American communities being particularly at-risk. Implications for the results of this study are given, along with direction for future research in the area of extreme heat event vulnerability.
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    Fatal self-injury in the United States, 1999–2018: Unmasking a national mental health crisis
    (Elsevier, 2021) Rockett, Ian R.H.; Caine, Eric D.; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Ali, Bina; Miller, Ted; Connery, Hilary S.; Lulla, Vijay O.; Nolte, Kurt B.; Larkin, G. Luke; Stack, Steven; Hendricks, Brian; McHugh, R. Kathryn; White, Franklin M.M.; Greenfield, Shelly F.; Bohnert, Amy S.B.; Cossman, Jeralynn S.; D'Onofrio, Gail; Nelson, Lewis S.; Nestadt, Paul S.; Berry, James H.; Jia, Haomiao; Geography, School of Liberal Arts
    Background Suicides by any method, plus ‘nonsuicide’ fatalities from drug self-intoxication (estimated from selected forensically undetermined and ‘accidental’ deaths), together represent self-injury mortality (SIM)—fatalities due to mental disorders or distress. SIM is especially important to examine given frequent undercounting of suicides amongst drug overdose deaths. We report suicide and SIM trends in the United States of America (US) during 1999–2018, portray interstate rate trends, and examine spatiotemporal (spacetime) diffusion or spread of the drug self-intoxication component of SIM, with attention to potential for differential suicide misclassification. Methods For this state-based, cross-sectional, panel time series, we used de-identified manner and underlying cause-of-death data for the 50 states and District of Columbia (DC) from CDC's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research. Procedures comprised joinpoint regression to describe national trends; Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient to assess interstate SIM and suicide rate congruence; and spacetime hierarchical modelling of the ‘nonsuicide’ SIM component. Findings The national annual average percentage change over the observation period in the SIM rate was 4.3% (95% CI: 3.3%, 5.4%; p<0.001) versus 1.8% (95% CI: 1.6%, 2.0%; p<0.001) for the suicide rate. By 2017/2018, all states except Nebraska (19.9) posted a SIM rate of at least 21.0 deaths per 100,000 population—the floor of the rate range for the top 5 ranking states in 1999/2000. The rank-order correlation coefficient for SIM and suicide rates was 0.82 (p<0.001) in 1999/2000 versus 0.34 (p = 0.02) by 2017/2018. Seven states in the West posted a ≥ 5.0% reduction in their standardised mortality ratios of ‘nonsuicide’ drug fatalities, relative to the national ratio, and 6 states from the other 3 major regions a >6.0% increase (p<0.05). Interpretation Depiction of rising SIM trends across states and major regions unmasks a burgeoning national mental health crisis. Geographic variation is plausibly a partial product of local heterogeneity in toxic drug availability and the quality of medicolegal death investigations. Like COVID-19, the nation will only be able to prevent SIM by responding with collective, comprehensive, systemic approaches. Injury surveillance and prevention, mental health, and societal well-being are poorly served by the continuing segregation of substance use disorders from other mental disorders in clinical medicine and public health practice.