title: Obesogenic environments: a systematic review of the association between the physical environment and adult weight status, the SPOTLIGHT project.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Understanding which physical environmental factors affect adult obesity, and how best to influence them, is important for public health and urban planning. Previous attempts to summarise the literature have not systematically assessed the methodological quality of included studies, or accounted for environmental differences between continents or the ways in which environmental characteristics were measured.
  
  
  METHODS
  We have conducted an updated review of the scientific literature on associations of physical environmental factors with adult weight status, stratified by continent and mode of measurement, accompanied by a detailed risk-of-bias assessment. Five databases were systematically searched for studies published between 1995 and 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two factors, urban sprawl and land use mix, were found consistently associated with weight status, although only in North America.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the exception of urban sprawl and land use mix in the US the results of the current review confirm that the available research does not allow robust identification of ways in which that physical environment influences adult weight status, even after taking into account methodological quality.
authors.affiliation: The EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Department of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. j.mackenbach@vumc.nl.
authors.forename: Joreintje D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Mackenbach
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rutter
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Compernolle
authors.forename: Ketevan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Glonti
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Oppert
authors.forename: Helene
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Charreire
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De Bourdeaudhuij
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brug
authors.forename: Giel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nijpels
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lakerveld
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002958:City Planning / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004777:Environment; D004779:Environment Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors