Neighborhood Self-Selection: The Role of Pre-Move Health Factors on the Built and Socioeconomic Environment.

ABSTRACT: Residential self-selection bias is a concern in studies of neighborhoods and health. This bias results from health behaviors predicting neighborhood choice. To quantify this bias, we examined associations between pre-move health factors (body mass index, walking, and total physical activity) and post-move neighborhood factors (County Sprawl Index, Census tract socioeconomic status (SES)) in the Nurses' Health Study (n = 14,159 moves from 1986-2008). Individuals in the highest quartile of pre-move BMI (BMI > 28.4) compared to the lowest quartile (BMI < 22.5) moved to counties that averaged 2.57 points lower on the sprawl index (95% confidence interval -3.55, -1.59) indicating that individuals moved to less dense counties; however, no associations were observed for pre-move walking nor total

SUBMITTER: James P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4626981 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature