Abstract
There is growing interest in understanding which aspects of the local environment influence obesity. Using data from the longitudinal West of Scotland Twenty-07 study (n = 2040) we examined associations between residents’ self-reported neighbourhood problems, measured over a 13-year period, and nurse-measured body weight and size (body mass index, waist circumference, waist–hip ratio) and percentage body fat. We also explored whether particular measures such as abdominal obesity, postulated as a marker for stress, were more strongly related to neighbourhood conditions. Using life course models adjusted for sex, cohort, household social class, and health behaviours, we found that the accumulation of perceived neighbourhood problems was associated with percentage body fat. In cross-sectional analyses, the strongest relationships were found for contemporaneous measures of neighbourhood conditions and adiposity. When analyses were conducted separately by gender, perceived neighbourhood stressors were strongly associated with central obesity measures (waist circumference, waist–hip ratio) among both men and women. Our findings indicate that chronic neighbourhood stressors are associated with obesity. Neighbourhood environments are modifiable, and efforts should be directed towards improving deleterious local environments to reduce the prevalence of obesity.
Highlights
The rise in obesity is a growing concern worldwide [1] as it is a key risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers [2] as well as reduced longevity [3]
Our findings are novel and add to the small body of work examining the relationships between perceived neighbourhood conditions and obesity, such the study by Kwarteng et al, who found that perceptions of the neighbourhood physical environment mediated the relationship between neighbourhood poverty and central adiposity [41]; and Pham et al, who found that perceived neighbourhood safety was associated with abdominal obesity among women but not men [42]
We found central obesity measures to be independently associated with neighbourhood stressors among both men and women when examined separately
Summary
The rise in obesity is a growing concern worldwide [1] as it is a key risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers [2] as well as reduced longevity [3]. Concerns have been raised that, the number of premature deaths from cardiovascular disease has been falling in high-income countries over the last 40 years, this trend may be impeded by the rise in obesity and associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes [6,7]. Attempts to address key determinants of obesity, such as initiatives to promote physical activity or a healthy diet directed at individuals, have had limited success to date [8,9]. This has led to increasing efforts to understand environmental influences, those related to the built environment [10]
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