Abstract
Obesity is a fast-growing global health crisis and the epidemic is about to get worse. Environment has been shown to influence physical activity and people’s body weight. Utilizing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2004-2010 waves of the continuous obesity data, this study conducted longitudinal analyses to examine neighborhood built environment and obesity risk controlling for the effects of socio-demographic characteristics. This study presents a comprehensive effort to understand the relationship between the environment and physical inactivity and obesity across the entire contiguous US. When constructing measures of the built environment, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used to calculate street connectivity, walk score and food environment. In addition to the built environment, the natural environment, which was represented by the annual number of extreme weather events from 2004-2010, was taken into account in explaining variation of physical inactivity and obesity across the contiguous US. Results show that higher street connectivity and walk score are related to lower physical inactivity and obesity rates, while the ratio of fast-food restaurants and number of extreme weather events are positively related to physical inactivity and obesity. The results are believed to provide policy-makers and planners with useful insights into the dynamics between the environment and obesity epidemic. Further, the significant effects of extreme weather invite more studies to investigate the relationship between the natural environment and obesity.
Highlights
Obesity has risen as a global issue in all countries and has been prevalent in both adults and children [1]
Utilizing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2004-2010 waves of the continuous obesity data, this study conducted longitudinal analyses to examine neighborhood built environment and obesity risk controlling for the effects of socio-demographic characteristics
In addition to the built environment, the natural environment, which was represented by the annual number of extreme weather events from 2004-2010, was taken into account in explaining variation of physical inactivity and obesity across the contiguous US
Summary
Obesity has risen as a global issue in all countries and has been prevalent in both adults and children [1]. A combination of factors may have contributed to obesity including proximal drivers (e.g., human behaviors; physical activity) and those considered as distant drivers such as built environment, food system, policies and other social factors [1]. Built environment refers to all human-made places that constitute people’s living environment including parks and recreation centers, play grounds, community layout, roads, and transportation system [7]. Built environment factors such as land use, population density, road connectivity, transportation patterns, and food environment have been investigated in relation to physical activity and obesity risk [3] [8] [9]
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