Geospatial clustering in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among Boston youth

The objective was to detect geospatial clustering of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake in Boston adolescents (age=16.3 +/- 1.3 years [range: 13-19]; female=56.1%; White=10.4%, Black=42.6%, Hispanics=32.4%, and others=14.6%) using spatial scan statistics. We used data on self-reported SSB intake from the 2008 Boston Youth Survey Geospatial Dataset (n=1292). Two binary variables were created: consumption of SSB (never versus any) on (1) soda and (2) other sugary drinks (e.g., lemonade). A Bernoulli spatial scan statistic was used to identify geospatial clusters of soda and other sugary drinks in unadjusted models and models adjusted for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. There was no statistically significant clustering of soda consumption in the unadjusted model. In contrast, a cluster of non-soda SSB consumption emerged in the middle of Boston (relative risk=1.20, p=.005), indicating that adolescents within the cluster had a 20% higher probability of reporting non-soda SSB intake than outside the cluster. The cluster was no longer significant in the adjusted model, suggesting spatial variation in non-soda SSB drink intake correlates with the geographic distribution of students by race/ethnicity, age, and gender.