title: An ecological study of the relationship between social and environmental determinants of obesity.
abstract: There is growing concern with the increasing prevalence of obesity in industrialised countries, a trend that is more apparent in the poor than in the rich. In an ecological study, the relationship between an area measure of socioeconomic status (SES) and the density of fast-food outlets was examined as one possible explanation for the phenomenon. It was found that there was a dose-response between SES and the density of fast-food outlets, with people living in areas from the poorest SES category having 2.5 times the exposure to outlets than people in the wealthiest category. The findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, VIC 3125, Australia. reidpath@deakin.edu.au
authors.forename: Daniel D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Reidpath
authors.forename: Cate
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garrard
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahoney
authors.forename: Mardie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Townsend
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003132:Commerce; D004463:Ecology; D019649:Food Industry / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D012923:Social Class; D012931:Social Environment