ABSTRACT
The objective was to detect geospatial clustering of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) intake in Boston adolescents (age 1⁄4 16.3 ± 1.3 years [range: 13–19]; female 1⁄4 56.1%; White 1⁄4 10.4%, Black 1⁄442.6%, Hispanics 1⁄432.4%, and others 1⁄414.6%) using spatial scan statistics. We used data on self-reported SSB intake from the 2008 Boston Youth Survey Geospatial Dataset (n1⁄41292). 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 1⁄4 1.20, p 1⁄4 .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.