Neighborhood influences on girls' obesity risk across the transition to adolescence.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

The neighborhoods in which children live, play, and eat provide an environmental context that may influence obesity risk and ameliorate or exacerbate health disparities. The current study examines whether neighborhood characteristics predict obesity in a prospective cohort of girls.

Methods

Participants were 174 girls (aged 8-10 years at baseline), a subset from the Cohort Study of Young Girls' Nutrition, Environment, and Transitions. Trained observers completed street audits within a 0.25-mile radius around each girl's residence. Four scales (food and service retail, recreation, walkability, and physical disorder) were created from 40 observed neighborhood features. BMI was calculated from clinically measured height and weight. Obesity was defined

SUBMITTER: Hoyt LT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4533282 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature