The impact of neighborhood park access and quality on body mass index among adults in New York City.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the association between adult individuals' body mass index (BMI) and characteristics of parks (size and cleanliness) in an urban environment taking into account the physical and social environments of the neighborhood.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, hierarchical linear models were used to determine whether park effects were associated with BMI using self-reported height and weight data obtained from the Community Health Survey in New York City (2002-2006).


RESULTS
Both the proportion of the residential zip code that was large park space and the proportion that was small park space had significant inverse associations with BMI after controlling for individual socio-demographic and zip code built environment characteristics (-0.20 BMI units across the inter-quartile range (IQR) for large parks, 95% CI -0.32, -0.08; -0.21 BMI units across the IQR for small parks, 95% CI -0.31, -0.10, respectively). Poorer scores on the park cleanliness index were associated with higher BMI, 0.18 BMI units across the IQR of the park cleanliness index (95% CI 0.05, 0.30).


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that proportion of neighborhoods that was large or small park space and park cleanliness were associated with lower BMI among NYC adults after adjusting for other neighborhood features such as homicides and walkability, characteristics that could influence park usage.
Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, USA.
James H
JH
Stark
Columbia Population Research Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Kathryn
K
Neckerman
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Gina S
GS
Lovasi
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
James
J
Quinn
Department of Sociology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Christopher C
CC
Weiss
Department of Sociology, Risk and Society, American University, Washington, DC, USA; Center on Health, Risk and Society, American University, Washington, DC, USA.
Michael D M
MD
Bader
Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, USA.
Kevin
K
Konty
Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, USA.
Tiffany G
TG
Harris
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: agr3@columbia.edu.
Andrew
A
Rundle
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D011633:Public Facilities / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057566:Self Report; D012931:Social Environment; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
Environment; Epidemiology; Neighborhood; Obesity; Urban; Walkability