Decomposing Racial Disparities in Obesity Prevalence: Variations in Retail Food Environment.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Racial disparities in obesity exist at the individual and community levels. Retail food environment has been hypothesized to be associated with racial disparities in obesity prevalence. This study aimed to quantify how much food environment measures explain racial disparities in obesity at the county level.

Methods

Data from 2009 to 2010 on 3,135 U.S. counties were extracted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Environment Atlas and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and analyzed in 2013. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was used to quantify the portion of the gap in adult obesity prevalence observed between counties with a high and low proportion of African-American residents is explained by food environment measures (e.g., proximity to grocery

SUBMITTER: Singleton CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4762716 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature