Risk of Excess Weight Increases in Unsafe Neighborhoods

Missouri adults who say that they live in unsafe and unpleasant neighborhoods are one and a half times more likely to be overweight than adults who say they live in safe and pleasant communities, according to a new study.

Unsafe traffic, crime and a lack of nice scenery in certain neighborhoods may keep residents from getting enough physical activity, which contributes to becoming or staying overweight, say Ross C. Brownson, Ph.D., of the St. Louis University School of Public Health and colleagues, who collaborated with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services on the study.

"Today's technological environment, which promotes high energy intake and discourages physical activity, has been described as 'toxic,'" Brownson says.

Brownson and colleagues caution, however, that other factors like age, race, education and employment are also related to the likelihood of being overweight.

In telephone interviews, the researchers asked 2,281 adults about their weight, health behaviors and features of their community like sidewalks, lighting, crime, traffic, parks and outdoor and indoor exercise facilities. Almost 60 percent of the adults in the study were overweight.

"Individuals who perceived their neighborhood or community to have one, two or three negative characteristics were 14, 23 and 56 percent more likely to be overweight, respectively, than individuals who perceived their neighborhood to be safe and pleasant," says Tegan Catlin, lead author on the study.

Overweight individuals were also more likely to live in neighborhoods lacking outdoor exercise facilities, according to the researchers.

Brownson and colleagues asked the individuals about their opportunities for physical activity at work. Twenty-one percent of the adults said they have time for physical activity at work, while 25 percent said that they had access to an exercise facility like a gym at work.

"Persons who were given time to exercise at work were nearly 20 percent less likely to be overweight," Catlin says.

The study was published in the March-April issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.