Abstract
Traditionally, static units of analysis such as administrative units are used when studying obesity. However, using these fixed contextual units ignores environmental influences experienced by individuals in areas beyond their residential neighborhood and may render the results unreliable. This problem has been articulated as the uncertain geographic context problem (UGCoP). This study investigates the UGCoP through exploring the relationships between the built environment and obesity based on individuals’ activity space. First, a survey was conducted to collect individuals’ daily activity and weight information in Guangzhou in January 2016. Then, the data were used to calculate and compare the values of several built environment variables based on seven activity space delineations, including home buffers, workplace buffers (WPB), fitness place buffers (FPB), the standard deviational ellipse at two standard deviations (SDE2), the weighted standard deviational ellipse at two standard deviations (WSDE2), the minimum convex polygon (MCP), and road network buffers (RNB). Lastly, we conducted comparative analysis and regression analysis based on different activity space measures. The results indicate that significant differences exist between variables obtained with different activity space delineations. Further, regression analyses show that the activity space delineations used in the analysis have a significant influence on the results concerning the relationships between the built environment and obesity. The study sheds light on the UGCoP in analyzing the relationships between obesity and the built environment.
Highlights
Much health and geographic research has examined how the physical and social environment affects people’s health
Through standard deviational ellipse (WSDE), the minimum convex polygon (MCP), the road network buffer delineating individuals’ contextual areas using various activity spaces, we examine how built (RNB), the workplace buffer (WPB), and the fitness place buffer (FPB), which are compared with the environment variables derived with different activity spaces may influence the association between residential buffer
The objective of this study is to examine the uncertain geographic context problem when analyzing the associations between obesity and the built environment
Summary
Much health and geographic research has examined how the physical and social environment affects people’s health. Excessive energy intake and a lack of physical activity have been identified as major risk factor for obesity at the individual level [3]. In this context, disparities in obesity prevalence can be attributed to people’s food environment and built environment. The food environment is often regarded as part of the built environment. Recent extensive studies indicate that the built environment has a potential influence on obesity [4,5,6,7].
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