CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 370Obesity, Physical Activity, DietUrban Transport and AccessibilityHealth disparities and outcomes

Socioeconomic and food-related physical characteristics of the neighbourhood environment are associated with body mass index

Open access
Wang, May C, Kim, Soowon, Gonzalez, Alma A, MacLeod, Kara E, Winkleby, Marilyn A·2007·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
DOI 10.1136/jech.2006.051680PMC PMC2465719
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether socioeconomic and food-related physical characteristics of the neighbourhood are associated with body mass index (BMI; kg/m 2) independently of individual-level sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics. Design and methods: Observational study using (1) individual-level data previously gathered in five cross-sectional surveys conducted by the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program between 1979 and 1990 and (2) neighbourhood-level data from (a) the census to describe socioeconomic characteristics and (b) data obtained from government and commercial sources to describe exposure to different types of retail food stores as measured by store proximity, and count of stores per square mile. Data were analysed using multilevel modelling procedures. The setting was 82 neighbourhoods in agricultural regions of California. Participants: 7595 adults, aged 25–74 years. Results: After adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, individual-level socioeconomic status, smoking, physical activity and nutrition knowledge, it was found that (1) adults who lived in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods had a higher mean BMI than adults who lived in high socioeconomic neighbourhoods; (2) higher neighbourhood density of small grocery stores was associated with higher BMI among women; and (3) closer proximity to chain supermarkets was associated with higher BMI among women. Conclusion: Living in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods, and in environments where healthy food is not readily available, is found to be associated with increased obesity risk. Unlike other studies which examined populations in other parts of the US, a positive association between living close to supermarkets and reduced obesity risk was not found in this study. A better understanding of the mechanisms by which neighbourhood physical characteristics influence obesity risk is needed.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1136/jech.2006.051680

Cites

47 of 47 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Reported barriers to healthy eating among disadvantaged and/or minority groups include poor dental health, lack of affordable quality produce, inability to find ethnically preferred fruits and vegetables locally, transportation problems, family customs or habits, social and cultural symbolism of foods, and low price and easy access to snack foods.

    “Reported barriers to healthy eating among the disadvantaged and/or minority groups include poor dental health, lack of access to quality produce at affordable prices, inability to find ethnically preferred fruits and vegetables in local markets, transportation problems, family customs/habits, social and cultural symbolism of certain foods, and low price and easy access to snack foods.147–152”

    From Interventions to Promote Physical Activity and Dietary Lifestyle Changes for Cardiovascular Risk Factor Reduction in Adults: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2010) · cites this paper as [147]

  • Seven cross-sectional studies in adults and children found greater accessibility to neighborhood supermarkets was associated with lower prevalence of adiposity; 1 county-level ecological study did not.

    “Seven cross-sectional studies in both adults and children found that greater accessibility to neighborhood supermarkets (presence, number, or distance) was associated with lower prevalence of adiposity290–297; 1 county-level (ecological) study did not.298”

    From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [294]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

5 of the 52 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Schluter G, Lee C. Changing food consumption patterns: their effect on the US food system, 1972-1992. Food Rev 1999;22:35-7.
  2. Contento I. Theoretical frameworks or models for nutrition education. J Nutr Educ 1995;27:287-90.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Wang, M. C., Kim, S., Gonzalez, A. A., MacLeod, K. E., & Winkleby, M. A.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
Corresponding author
Wang, May C
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2007-05-11
Volume
61
Issue
6
Pages
491-498
ISSN
  • 0141-7681 (ISSN-L)
  • 0143-005X
  • 1470-2738
DOI
10.1136/jech.2006.051680
PMC
PMC2465719
OpenAlex
W2097586518
Cited by
369
References
52
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 31
FWCI
31.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • American Heart Association
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL067731, R01 HL 67731)
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
  • National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Social Sciences › Transportation › Urban Transport and Accessibility
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
Keywords
body mass index, obesity, neighborhood environment, socioeconomic status, food retailers, food environment, agricultural land, sex differences
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Commerce, Environment Design, Female, Food Supply, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Residence Characteristics, Risk Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Health Behavior, Body Mass Index

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review