Montreal Neighbourhoods Research Articles

High Prevalence of Obesity in Low Income and Multiethnic Schoolchildren: A Diet and Physical Activity Assessment

The objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of obesity and/or undernutrition and evaluate diet and activity patterns among schoolchildren from an ethnically diverse low income urban population. A cross-sectional survey of 498 children aged 9–12 y from 24 schools in low income multiethnic neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada was undertaken. Height, weight, dietary intake, physical activity record, and lifestyle and demographic characteristics were measured. There was no evidence of undernutrition because linear growth was appropriate for age, but 39.4% of children were overweight (>85th percentile NHANES II). Dietary fat intake was higher in children from single-parent families (P< 0.001) and those with mothers born in Canada. Intake of vitamins A, C, iron and folate was directly related to income sufficiency. Children who did more physical activity had significantly higher intakes of energy, calcium, iron, zinc and fiber but were not heavier. Dietary intake was systematically underreported among overweight children, i.e., their reported intakes did not meet calculated energy needs. This underreporting makes it difficult to attribute the accumulated energy imbalance to either energy intake or expenditure.

Validation of a short telephone administered questionnaire to evaluate dietary interventions in low income communities in Montreal, Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To validate an adaptation of a short questionnaire measuring behaviour related to selecting low fat diets. The questionnaire was adapted for telephone use in a low income, low education...

Factors associated with tuberculin reactivity among the foreign-born in Montreal.

Because tuberculosis among the foreign-born is of increasing importance in North America, it has recently been recommended that newly arriving immigrants be tuberculin tested and preventive therapy given to all those with significant reactions. The factors affecting the prevalence of tuberculin reactions were assessed in a community-based tuberculin survey among foreign-born schoolchildren and young adults. Of 1,198 foreign-born who were tuberculin tested, 32.4% had significant tuberculin reactions. False-positive tuberculin reactions due to sensitivity to purified protein derivative (PPD)-B (for Mycobacterium avium) were uncommon and those due to BCG vaccination of importance only among immigrants from countries with low tuberculosis rates. Tuberculin reactions of 10+ mm were associated with tuberculosis rates in the country of origin (p less than or equal to 0.001), age when immigrated (p less than or equal to 0.001), bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination (p less than or equal to 0.01), and residence in poorer neighborhoods in Montreal (p less than or equal to 0.001), but not with number of years resident in Canada. The booster phenomenon, seen in 16% of those undergoing two-step testing, was most strongly associated with prior BCG vaccination (p less than or equal to 0.001) and also with tuberculosis rates in the country of origin (p less than or equal to 0.08), age of immigration (p less than or equal to 0.01), and number of years resident in Canada (p less than or equal to 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Access to school daycare services: Class, family, ethnicity and space in Montreal's old and new inner city

This article examines access to before- and after-school childcare services in the Montreal neighbourhoods; both are socially- and ethnically-diverse, but while one is experiencing some gentrification, the other is undergoing déclassement. Using interview findings, it explores how the complex interplay of labour market position, family structure, ethnocultural origin, and local resources affects parents' options and strategies. Inequalities of access to satisfactory childcare appear to be growing between the two areas.

Architecture et forme urbaine

This article examines Montreal's urban fabric as it was shaped during the urban expansion at the end of the 19th century. Focusing on the development of the St. Jean-Baptiste neighbourhood between 1870 and 1914, the study attempts to explain the origins of the street layouts and the built forms of this area. While the dominant interpretations of Montreal's housing forms favor alleged rural folk influence and economic and demographic factors, this study stresses the importance of bourgeois architectural and landscape ideals as well as the constraints of lot shapes. The study points to the complex origins of the residential forms which became typical of Montreal's neighbourhoods at the beginning of the 20th century.

Landlord-Tenant Relations in a Declining Montreal Neighbourhood

Landlord-Tenant Relations in a Declining Montreal Neighbourhood