MiCDA’s Geographic Linkages Repository (GLR)
MiCDA is partnering with the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) to make contextual files and related documentation available in the MiCDA Enclave to approved researchers upon request.
The Geographic Linkages Repository (GLR) will facilitate linkages at multiple levels of geography (e.g. state, county, tract, zip code) so that researchers can more fully investigate the impact of the environments in which people live and work on later life health, well-being and related inequities.
Current Holdings. This document provides an overview of resources (described below) that are available in MiCDA’s Geographic Linkages Repository. Holdings are updated regularly.
The Contextual Data Resource (CDR) is a collection of datasets designed to facilitate research on the role of place in shaping health and well-being. CDR includes measures of health care resources, demographic and socioeconomic data, air quality, crime and the food environment. Measures are available at various levels of geography (e.g., census tract, county, metro area, state). More detailed information can be found on the CDR webpage.
Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care datasets (also available through Dataverse) document variations in how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. The project uses Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data to provide information and analysis about national, regional and local markets. Measures are available at various levels (e.g., Hospital Referral Region (HRR), Hospital Service Area (HSA), State and County) and for time periods starting in the 1990s.
Historic Redlining Indicator (HRI) data by the Mapping Inequality project include data from the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation’s (HOLC) residential security grades, multiplied by a weighting factor based on area within census tracts. A higher score means greater redlining with the census tract. The 1930s HOLC maps were calculated for 2000, 2010 and 2020 census tracts for 142 cities across the U.S. The data contain continuous HRIs and categorical variables.
The IPUMS Contextual Determinants of Health (CDOH) provides access to measures of disparities, policies, and counts, by state or county, for historically marginalized populations in the United States including Black, Asian, Hispanic/Latina/o/e/x, LGBTQ+ persons and women. The 16 individual datasets are described in the Current Holdings document and included in the Citation List.
The Long Term Care Focus (LTCFocus) datasets include data regarding the health and functional status of nursing home residents, characteristics of care facilities, and data characterizing the markets in which facilities exist. Compiled data are gathered from a variety of primary and secondary sources, including MDS, OSCAR, and other sources that characterize the policy environment and local market forces affecting nursing home providers at the state and county level. Most measures are available annually from 2000 to 2020. Visit ltcfocus.org for additional information.
National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA). NaNDA is a nation-wide collection of data with measures of the demographic, economic, social and physical environments, generally at the level of Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTA) and Census Track. A Zip Code to ZCTA crosswalk is included. More detailed information can be found on the NaNDA webpage and at OpenICPSR.
The State Policy & Politics Database (SPPD) is a compilation of annual data on state policies and politics that are particularly relevant for population health. The SPPD includes several categories of policies, including labor and economic policies (e.g., minimum wage levels, right to work laws), social safety net policies (e.g., earned income tax credits, SNAP), behavior-related policies (e.g., tobacco taxes, opioid prescribing), as well as the political ideology of the states’ government and citizens. Most measures are available annually from 1980 to 2021.