title: Examining the relationships among built environment, physical activity, and body mass index in El Paso, TX.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study examined the relationships among built environment, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) in a primarily Hispanic border community in El Paso, TX.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from a 2001 community-wide health survey were matched to environmental data using geocoding techniques in ARC VIEW software. A total of 996 adults were surveyed by phone and 452 were successfully geocoded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample was 71% female, 79% Hispanic, 42 +/- 17 years old, moderately acculturated, and had socioeconomic status (SES) levels of semi-skilled workers. Increasing BMI was related to less moderate intensity physical activity (P = 0.05), higher SES (P = 0.0003), worse overall health (P = 0.0004), and living in areas with greater land-use mix (less residential; P = 0.03). The relationship between overall health and BMI was in part mediated by higher numbers of barriers to physical activity in those with poor health, which lead to a decrease in moderate physical activity. These variables explained 20% of the variance in BMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is one of the first studies to find a positive relationship between land-use mix and BMI in a predominantly Hispanic, low-income community. The positive association between BMI and land-use mix may be due to the inclusion of individual SES as a controlling variable in the analyses, suggesting that SES may have a differential effect on how the built environment influences BMI in low- to moderate-income minority communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
authors.forename: Candace D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Rutt
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Coleman
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004032:Diet; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology