Perceived and objective measures of the neighbourhood environment and overweight in preschool children and their mothers.
OBJECTIVE
The primary aim was to examine the relationships between perceived and objective measures of the neighbourhood environment, measured in late infancy, and subsequent overweight (including obesity) in 3-year-old children and their mothers. The secondary aim was to assess whether moving residence confounded these relationships.


METHODS
We analysed data on 8 154 children and their mothers from the UK Millennium Cohort Study who had participated since birth and were living in England. At the first contact (late infancy), mothers reported their perceptions of their neighbourhood environment, and objective measures of the neighbourhood environment were obtained by linking national deprivation data to each child's postcode. We conducted logistic and multilevel regression analyses to examine perceived and objective measures of the neighbourhood environment, respectively, and overweight at the second contact (3 years) in children and their mothers. All analyses were adjusted for moving residence.


RESULTS
There were few consistent patterns between measures of the neighbourhood environment (perceived or objective) and early childhood overweight. However, mothers' risk of overweight increased with increasingly poor neighbourhood conditions (perceived) or residence in areas of increasing deprivation (objective), after adjustment for individual socio-demographic factors. All relationships were maintained after adjustment for moving residence.


CONCLUSIONS
While area-level factors have limited influence on the development of overweight in preschool children, they are likely to affect overweight in their mothers. Policies need to address both individual and environmental factors to tackle obesity and its determinants across the life course.
Hawkins
Summer Sherburne
SS
Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London WC1N 1EH, UK. s.hawkins@ich.ucl.ac.uk
Pearce
Anna
A
Cole
Tim J
TJ
Law
Catherine
C
Dezateux
Carol
C
Peckham
Catherine
C
Bedford
Helen
H
Rahi
Jugnoo
J
Griffiths
Lucy J
LJ
Cumberland
Phillippa
P
Bartington
Suzanne
S
D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D050177:Overweight / Q000209:etiology*; D010465:Perception; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors