IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v261y2020ics0277953620304615.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do neighbourhood characteristics act together to influence BMI? A cross-sectional study of urban parks and takeaway/fast-food stores as modifiers of the effect of physical activity facilities

Author

Listed:
  • Mason, Kate E.
  • Pearce, Neil
  • Cummins, Steven

Abstract

Studies exploring associations between neighbourhood environment and obesity often overlook the fact that neighbourhoods are multi-dimensional and that the effects of one environmental exposure may be modified by another. We examine whether associations between neighbourhood density of formal physical activity (PA) facilities and body mass index (BMI) are modified by the density of neighbourhood green spaces and takeaway stores. We used cross-sectional data from the UK Biobank cohort and linked UK Biobank Urban Morphometric Platform (UKBUMP) for 345,269 urban-dwelling adults aged 40–69. We examined associations between objectively measured BMI and the number of formal PA facilities (gyms, pools, etc.) within 1 km of each individual's home, testing separately for interactions with the number of local public green spaces, and number of takeaway stores, within the same 1 km buffers. We estimated modifier-stratified associations using multivariable, multilevel models to account for a clustered sampling design and potential confounding. Likelihood ratio tests were used to assess statistical interaction. We found that the association between a greater number of local PA facilities and lower BMI was stronger among people with fewer urban green spaces in their neighbourhood than among those with more green spaces (Pinteraction = 0.021). The same relationship between PA facilities and BMI was also noticeably attenuated among those with more takeaway stores near home, compared with people with none (Pinteraction = 0.014). We conclude that formal PA facilities may buffer against a lack of informal, green resources for PA in areas where the latter are scarce. However, the potential benefits of formal PA facilities in terms of obesity risk may be undermined by an unhealthy food environment close to home. Locating formal PA facilities in places with fewer public green resources and reducing the prevalence of takeaway stores in areas with formal PA resources may maximise the health benefits to be derived from these neighbourhood resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Mason, Kate E. & Pearce, Neil & Cummins, Steven, 2020. "Do neighbourhood characteristics act together to influence BMI? A cross-sectional study of urban parks and takeaway/fast-food stores as modifiers of the effect of physical activity facilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:261:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620304615
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113242
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620304615
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113242?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grafova, Irina B. & Freedman, Vicki A. & Lurie, Nicole & Kumar, Rizie & Rogowski, Jeannette, 2014. "The difference-in-difference method: Assessing the selection bias in the effects of neighborhood environment on health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 20-33.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hobbs, M. & Milfont, T.L. & Marek, L. & Yogeeswaran, K. & Sibley, C.G., 2022. "The environment an adult resides within is associated with their health behaviours, and their mental and physical health outcomes: a nationwide geospatial study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    2. Bonnet, Céline & Détang-Dessendre, Cécile & Orozco, Valérie & Rouvière, Elodie, 2022. "Spatial spillovers, living environment and obesity in France: Evidence from a spatial econometric framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tao Zhang, 2016. "Socioeconomic determinants of obesity and hypertension at the county level in China," Mathematical Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 239-252, October.
    2. Ljunge, Martin, 2016. "Migrants, health, and happiness: Evidence that health assessments travel with migrants and predict well-being," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 35-46.
    3. Peter James & Jaime E. Hart & Mariana C. Arcaya & Diane Feskanich & Francine Laden & S.V. Subramanian, 2015. "Neighborhood Self-Selection: The Role of Pre-Move Health Factors on the Built and Socioeconomic Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Lilah M. Besser & Willa D. Brenowitz & Oanh L. Meyer & Serena Hoermann & John Renne, 2021. "Methods to Address Self-Selection and Reverse Causation in Studies of Neighborhood Environments and Brain Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Kyeongmo Kim & Thomas D. Buckley & Denise Burnette & Jin Huang & Seon Kim, 2022. "Age-Friendly Communities and Older Adults’ Health in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-12, July.
    6. Gailey, Samantha, 2022. "Moving to greener pastures: Health selection into neighborhood green space among a highly mobile and diverse population in California," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    7. Gottemukkula Bhavani & Middhe Sreenivasulu & Ravinder V. Naik & M. Jagan Mohan Reddy & Ashwini S. Darekar & Anugu Amarender Reddy, 2022. "Impact Assessment of Seed Village Programme by Using Difference in Difference (DiD) Approach in Telangana, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Saha, Unnati Rani & Bijwaard, Govert E. & Muhajarine, Nazeem & Vrijkotte, Tanja GM., 2020. "Disadvantaged neighborhoods, birth weight, and problem behavior in five- and six-year-old pre-school children: Evidence from a cohort born in Amsterdam," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Ferraz, Diogo & Ribeiro de Oliveira, Fabíola Cristina, 2018. "Impact of the National Professional Qualification Program (PNQ) on Income: An Econometric Analysis in Piracicaba/SP-Brazil," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 105-123.
    10. Yu Lu & Fanbin Kong & Luchen Huang & Kai Xiong & Caiyao Xu & Ben Wang, 2021. "Evaluation of the Implementation Effect of the Ecological Compensation Policy in the Poyang Lake River Basin Based on Difference-in-Difference Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-14, August.
    11. Liu, Xiaoying & Miao, Huazhang & Behrman, Jere R. & Hannum, Emily & Liang, Zhijiang & Zhao, Qingguo, 2022. "The Asian Games, air pollution and birth outcomes in South China: An instrumental variable approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    12. Tian, Chuanhao & Peng, Ying & Wen, Haizhen & Yue, Wenze & Fang, Li, 2021. "Subway boosts housing values, for whom: A quasi-experimental analysis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:261:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620304615. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.