Children in greener neighborhoods have lower body weight changesBell and colleagues examined the medical records of 4,000 three- to sixteen-year-old children that lived in Marion County, Indiana, received care from a particular clinic network between 1996 and 2002, had height and weight measurements for two consecutive years, and lived at the same residential address for at least two years. The majority of participants in this study were non-Hispanic black and enrolled in Medicaid (an indicator of lower socioeconomic status). Bell and colleagues geo-coded each participant's address using a Geographic Information System and measured greenness at these locations using satellite images and a vegetation index. The researchers speculated that neighborhood greenness might serve as an indicator of children's access to spaces that promote physical activity or increased time outside. In analyzing the study data, Bell and colleagues found that the amount of vegetation in a child's neighborhood was inversely correlated with their Body Mass Index (BMI) score at the year two measurement. That is, in general, the more vegetation a child had in their neighborhood, the less likely they were to show an increase in BMI. The researchers also found that children in more vegetated settings were less likely to have a higher BMI over 2 years as compared to children in less vegetated settings, presumably due to more physical activity or time spent outdoors. Importantly, Bell and colleagues controlled for a number of other factors in their analyses, such as residential density. The researchers conclude that conceptualizations of walkability from adult studies, based solely on residential density, may not be relevant to children and youth in urban environments. This research highlights the role that neighborhood vegetation could play in policies and programs aimed at preventing childhood obesity.
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