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Table 2 Description of spatial exposure measures from extracted relationships and associations

From: Food environments and dietary intakes among adults: does the type of spatial exposure measurement matter? A systematic review

Concept

Measure

Description

Number of relationshipsa

Number of associations (n = 202)b

% of associations significant in the expected or unexpected directionc

Availability

Continuous density

Euclidean kernel density estimation

A continuous density surface across a given area based on defined Euclidean kernels calculated using a probability density function

3

18

61.1

Variety

Road network buffer

Number of different outlets belonging to the same outlet category type within a defined area calculated using a road network radius from a reference location

2

2

50

Count

Road network buffer

Number of outlets within a defined area calculated using a road network radius from a reference location

26

68

44

Euclidean buffer

Number of outlets within a defined circular area calculated using a straight line radius from a reference location

5

20

40

Presence

Euclidean buffer

Binary presence/absence (1, 0) of outlets within a defined circular area calculated using a straight line radius from a reference location

8

11

9

Road network buffer

Binary presence/absence (1, 0) of outlets within a defined area calculated using a road network radius from a reference location

5

12

8

Relative density

Euclidean buffer count/10,000 population

Number of outlets relative to another quantity within a defined circular area calculated using a straight line radius from a reference location

9

13

7.7

Diversity

Euclidean buffer

Number of different outlet category types within a defined circular area calculated using a straight line radius from a reference location

1

1

0

Retail food environment index

Euclidean buffer

Ratio of different outlet types within a defined circular area calculated using a straight line radius from a reference location

1

1

0

Accessibility

Proximity

Euclidean distance

Straight line distance from a reference location to the nearest outlet

7

11

36.4

Road network distance

Road network distance from a reference location to the nearest outlet

36

38

21 (2.6)

Average proximity

Road network distance

Average road network distance from a reference location to all outlets

7

7

(28.6)

  1. aCount of the total number of relationships that employed a particular measure
  2. bDunn (2012) [43] did not report on the technique used to determine proximity, count within a 1 mile buffer, and count within a 3 mile buffer. Therefore, these associations (n = 3) were excluded from the table
  3. cThe percentage of unexpected associations is placed in brackets