Association of Neighborhood Geographic Spatial Factors With Rates of Childhood Obesity.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Childhood obesity is a principal public health concern. Understanding the geographic distribution of childhood obesity can inform the design and delivery of interventions.

Objective

To better understand the causes of spatial dependence in rates of childhood obesity across neighborhoods.

Design, setting, and participants

This cohort study used data from a legislatively mandated body mass index screening program for public school children in Arkansas from the 2003-2004 through 2014-2015 academic years. Spatial autoregressive moving average (SARMA) models for panel data were used to estimate spatial dependency in childhood obesity at 2 levels of spatial aggregation. Data were analyzed from August 2017 to February 2018.

Exposures

The SARMA models include

SUBMITTER: Fang D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6324267 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature