The Urban Built Environment and Obesity in New York City: A Multilevel Analysis

• Published in: American journal of health promotion Vol. 21; no. 4_suppl; pp. 326 - 334
• Main Authors: Rundle, Andrew, Roux, Ana V. Diez, Freeman, Lance M., Miller, Douglas, Neckerman, Kathryn M., Weiss, Christopher C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.03.2007
• Subjects: Adult; Body Mass Index; Cross-Sectional Studies; Environment Design; Female; Health Status Indicators; Humans; Life Style; Male; Middle Aged; New York City - epidemiology; Obesity - epidemiology; Population Density; Prevalence; Residence Characteristics; Socioeconomic Factors; Urban Health - statistics & numerical data; New York City; Body Mass Index; Manuscript format: research; Target population circumstances: education/income level, geographic location, and race/ethnicity; Health focus: weight control; Land Use Mix; Prevention Research; Outcome measure: biometric; Public Transit; Strategy: built environment; Population Density; Target population: adults; Research purpose: modeling/relationship testing; Setting: local community; Study design: nonexperimental
• ISSN: 0890-1171; 2168-6602
• DOI: 10.4278/0890-1171-21.4s.326

Purpose. To examine whether urban form is associated with body size within a densely-settled city. Design. Cross-sectional analysis using multilevel modeling to relate body mass index (BMI) to built environment resources. Setting. Census tracts (n = 1989) within the five boroughs of New York City. Subjects. Adult volunteers (n = 13,102) from the five boroughs of New York City recruited between January 2000 and December 2002. Measures. The dependent variable was objectively-measured BMI. Independent variables included land use mix; bus and subway stop density; population density; and intersection density. Covariates included age, gender, race, education, and census tract–level poverty and race/ethnicity. Analysis. Cross-sectional multilevel analyses. Results. Mixed land use (Beta = 2.55, p < .01), density of bus stops (Beta = −.01, p < .01) and subway stops (Beta = −.06, p < .01), and population density (Beta = −.25, p < .001), but not intersection density (Beta = −.002) were significantly inversely associated with BMI after adjustment for individual- and neighborhood-level sociodemographic characteristics. Comparing the 90th to the 10th percentile of each built environment variable, the predicted adjusted difference in BMI with increased mixed land use was −.41 units, with bus stop density was −.33 units, with subway stop density was −.34 units, and with population density was −.86 units. Conclusion. BMI is associated with built environment characteristics in New York City.