Neighborhood Environments and Adiposity for Older Adults

Environmental factors have been shown to be associated with increased obesity rates, however evidence is mixed and there remains a paucity of data documenting these relationships for older adults. The objective of this study is to predict differences in adiposity associated with the types of neighborhood features located in Black, White and Latino urban neighborhoods. The Cardiovascular Health of Seniors and the Built Environment is a longitudinal study collecting repeated measurements of adiposity and 30 neighborhood features. Adults aged 60 years or older living in New York City were enrolled between January 2009 and June 2011 (n=1,453). Walking audits of all streets within 300-meter buffer zones were conducted resulting in the evaluation of two-thirds of Brooklyn streets. For women, 60-69 years of age, who live in black areas, neighborhood features were associated with a higher body fat mass (BFM) than the average Brooklyn neighborhood (D=2.15,95% CI [1.15, 3.15]). Conversely, women of the same age living in white areas, a decrease in BFM was predicted (D= -2.01,95% CI [-3.62, -0.40]). The direction of the effects for older aged women living in black and white areas remained similar to the younger age group although the precision of the estimates were wider. Estimates of BFM were inconsistent across age groups for men living in each of the areas. The findings from this study support the assertion that neighborhood area resources are associated with population distribution of adiposity for older adults.