Interactions between Neighbourhood Urban Form and Socioeconomic Status and Their Associations with Anthropometric Measurements in Canadian Adults

Neighbourhood-level socioeconomic composition and built context are correlates of weight-related behaviours. we investigated the relations between objective measures of neighbourhood design and socioeconomic status (ses) and their interaction,in relation to self-reported waist circumference (wc),waist-to-hip ratio,and body mass index (bmi) in a sample of canadian adults (n=851 from 12 calgary neighbourhoods). wc and bmi were higher among residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods,independent of neighbourhood design (grid,warped grid,and curvilinear street patterns) and individual-level characteristics (sex,age,education,income,dog ownership,marital status,number of dependents,motor vehicle access,smoking,sleep,mental health,physical health,and past attempts to modify bodyweight). the association between neighbourhood-level ses and wc was modified by neighbourhood design; wc was higher in disadvantaged-curvilinear neighbourhoods and lower in advantaged-grid neighbourhoods. policies making less obesogenic neighbourhoods affordable to low socioeconomic households and that improve the supportiveness for behaviours leading to healthy weight in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods are necessary. © 2017 gavin r. mccormack et al.