Urban sprawl and risk for being overweight or obese.
OBJECTIVE
I examined the association between urban sprawl and the risk for being overweight or obese among US adults.


METHODS
A measure of urban sprawl in metropolitan areas was derived from the 2000 US Census; individual-level data were obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. I used multilevel analysis to assess the association between urban sprawl and obesity.


RESULTS
After I controlled for gender, age, race/ethnicity, income, and education, for each 1-point rise in the urban sprawl index (0-100 scale), the risk for being overweight increased by 0.2% and the risk for being obese increased by 0.5%.


CONCLUSIONS
The current obesity epidemic has many causes, but there is an association between urban sprawl and obesity.
Lopez
Russ
R
Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA. rptlopez@bu.edu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D002958:City Planning; D004779:Environment Design; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*