Associations between the neighbourhood characteristics and body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio: Findings from Alberta's Tomorrow Project

The urban built environment and adult BMI, obesity, and diabetes in Latin American cities

“…Contrary to what has been reported in other settings, where a higher density of intersections in cities would bring benefits through increased walkability 12,[21][22][23][24][25] , in our sample of Latin American cities we found that higher intersection density was associated with higher BMI, and also with higher odds of having obesity and diabetes. Similarly, population density has been previously reported to be linked with increased active transportation and therefore lower obesity 11 , and our findings do not support this observation as we found no association with BMI or obesity.…”

Is city-level travel time by car associated with individual obesity or diabetes in Latin American cities? Evidence from 178 cities in the SALURBAL project

“…In addition, we also observed some unexpected contradictory associations at the city-level: for example, intersection density showed a positive association with individual-level obesity, which was contrary to what was found in other settings ( Nichani et al, 2020 ), and a negative association with diabetes. These conflicting results could be explained by the fact that in some areas, high intersection densities without considering other qualities of urban form could be related not with higher levels of walkability but with higher levels of traffic congestion, which could also have a negative effect on health-related issues.…”

Greenspace and mortality in the U.K. Biobank: Longitudinal cohort analysis of socio-economic, environmental, and biomarker pathways

“…Inadvertently, we found that higher greenspace was associated with residents having unhealthy risk factors including higher BMI, higher waist-hip ratio and longer sedentary time, which would result in negative mediation effects. Previous studies often suggested that participants with more neighborhood greenspace were at lower or equal risk of higher waist-hip ratio and obesity ( Luo et al, 2020 ),( Nichani et al, 2020 ),( O'Callaghan-Gordo et al, 2020 ). Moreover, the existing evidence for association between greenspace and sedentary time was inconsistent: a study in Brazil showed that no association between screen time and greenspace was found ( Parajára et al, 2021 ); a study in Mexico found that greater time in greenspace was associated with decreased sedentary time ( Benjamin-Neelon et al, 2019 ); and another study in Canada found that middle-aged and older adults with more greenspace reported more leisure sedentary time ( Klicnik et al, 2022 ).…”