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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2004.060954v1 97/3/500    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ross, N. A. Articles by Berthelot, J.-M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ross, N. A. Articles by Berthelot, J.-M. Related Collections Obesity, Overweight, Underweight Geography Socioeconomic Factors Urban Health Other Environment

Nancy A. Ross, PhD, Stephane Tremblay, MSc, Saeeda Khan, MA, Daniel Crouse, MES, Mark Tremblay, PhD and Jean-Marie Berthelot, BSc

Nancy Ross and Daniel Crouse are with the Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Stephane Tremblay, Saeeda Khan, Mark Tremblay, and Jean-Marie Berthelot, are with Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Nancy A. Ross, PhD, Department of Geography, McGill University, 805 Sherbrooke St West, Montreal, PQ, H3A 2K6, Canada (e-mail: nancy.ross{at}mcgill.ca).

Objectives. We investigated the influence of neighborhood and metropolitan area characteristics on body mass index (BMI) in urban Canada in 2001.

Methods. We conducted a multilevel analysis with data collected from a cross-sectional survey of men and women nested in neighborhoods and metropolitan areas in urban Canada during 2001.

Results. After we controlled for individual sociodemographic characteristics and behaviors, the average BMIs of residents of neighborhoods in which a large proportion of individuals had less than a high school education were higher than those BMIs of residents in neighborhoods with small proportions of such individuals (P< .01). Living in a neighborhood with a high proportion of recent immigrants was associated with lower BMI for men (P<.01), but not for women. Neighborhood dwelling density was not associated with BMI for either gender. Metropolitan sprawl was associated with higher BMI for men (P=.02), but the effect was not significant for women (P= .09).

Conclusions. BMI is strongly patterned by an individual’s social position in urban Canada. A neighborhood’s social condition has an incremental influence on the average BMI of its residents. However, BMI is not influenced by dwelling density. Metropolitan sprawl is associated with higher BMI for Canadian men, which supports recent evidence of this same association among American men. Individuals and their environments collectively influence BMI in urban Canada.

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