Delineating Urbanicity and Rurality: Impact on Environmental Exposure Assessment

Environmental exposures and their health impacts can vary substantially between urban and rural areas. However, different methods for classifying these areas could lead to inconsistencies in environmental exposure and health studies, which are often overlooked. We constructed different urban/rural classification systems based on multiple population-based (e.g., total population, population density, and commuting) and built-environment-based (e.g., nighttime light intensity, building density, road density, distance to urban centers, point of interest density, and urban area coverage) indicators and various classification schemes. These classification systems were applied to Virginia and West Virginia, United States. We compared differences in urban/rural spatial patterns, demographic compositions, and exposures of particulate matter (PM