Differential associations of the built environment on weight gain by sex and race/ethnicity but not age.

Abstract

Objective

To explore the built environment (BE) and weight change relationship by age, sex, and racial/ethnic subgroups in adults.

Methods

Weight trajectories were estimated using electronic health records for 115,260 insured Kaiser Permanente Washington members age 18-64 years. Member home addresses were geocoded using ArcGIS. Population, residential, and road intersection densities and counts of area supermarkets and fast food restaurants were measured with SmartMaps (800 and 5000-meter buffers) and categorized into tertiles. Linear mixed-effect models tested whether associations between BE features and weight gain at 1, 3, and 5 years differed by age, sex, and race/ethnicity, adjusting for demographics, baseline weight, and residential property values.

Results

Denser urban form and greater availability of supermarkets and fast food restaurants were associated with differential weight change across sex and race/ethnicity. At 5 years, the mean difference in weight change comparing the 3rd versus 1st tertile of residential density was significantly different between males (-0.49 kg, 95% CI: -0.68, -0.30) and females (-0.17 kg, 95% CI: -0.33, -0.01) (P-value for interaction = 0.011). Across race/ethnicity, the mean difference in weight change at 5 years for residential density was significantly different among non-Hispanic (NH) Whites (-0.47 kg, 95% CI: -0.61, -0.32), NH Blacks (-0.86 kg, 95% CI: -1.37, -0.36), Hispanics (0.10 kg, 95% CI: -0.46, 0.65), and NH Asians (0.44 kg, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.78) (P-value for interaction <0.001). These findings were consistent for other BE measures.

Conclusion

The relationship between the built environment and weight change differs across demographic groups. Careful consideration of demographic differences in associations of BE and weight trajectories is warranted for investigating etiological mechanisms and guiding intervention development.

Department

Description

Provenance

Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1038/s41366-021-00937-9

Publication Info

Buszkiewicz, James H, Jennifer F Bobb, Flavia Kapos, Philip M Hurvitz, David Arterburn, Anne Vernez Moudon, Andrea Cook, Stephen J Mooney, et al. (2021). Differential associations of the built environment on weight gain by sex and race/ethnicity but not age. International journal of obesity (2005), 45(12). pp. 2648–2656. 10.1038/s41366-021-00937-9 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/29022.

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Scholars@Duke

Kapos

Flavia Penteado Kapos

Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

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