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Property values may point to likelihood of obesity
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Sweet Zombie Jesus
May 25, 2012, 12:48:13 PM5/25/12
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Property values may point to likelihood of obesity
The value of your home may be a stronger predictor of your weight than
the genes inherited from your ancestors, a new public health study
from the University of Washington has found.
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
SEATTLE —
The value of your home may be a stronger predictor of your weight than
the genes inherited from your ancestors, a new public health study
from the University of Washington has found.
Health researchers and government officials usually group people by
income or education level or even by zip code, but this study
illustrates a more targeted approach, according to Adam Drewnowski,
professor of epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health and lead
author of the study.
A random telephone survey in 2008-09 combined with King County tax
records showed women living in the homes in the lowest 25 percent of
the assessed property values in Seattle and the surrounding suburbs
were more than three times more likely to be obese than women living
in the most expensive homes.
This study paid for by the National Institutes of Health and published
online this week in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that
within King County, there are many local pockets or micro-
neighborhoods of better or worse health. Since King County is one of
the healthiest counties in the state, problems like obesity could be
overlooked without more specific data, Drewnowski said.
"Huge social disparities have been buried by looking at data at a very
crude level," he said.
Property values are a short hand for all kinds of things, he added.
Commute times, proximity to parks and other safe places to exercise,
and access to healthy foods may all be related to property values,
depending on where you live.
He expects future studies of other cities or counties to find a
similar correlation between property values and obesity.
Of course, just moving people into richer neighborhoods won't fix
their health problems, he is quick to point out.
The researchers expected to find a difference between the impact on
women and men, since other studies have found that men's health is not
as closely tied to economics, but the differences found in this
research were more dramatic than Drewnowski expected.
For each $238,000 drop in property values, obesity rates went up 80
percent among women, and the differences in obesity rates were as
gradual as the values, the researchers found.
Those gender differences call for confirmation by other research and
some clarification, said Dr. Dariush Mazzaffarian, an associate
professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of
Public Health, who was not involved in this research.
Mazzaffarian said Drewnowski's study made him wonder if there are more
obese women in lower property values or more lean women in higher
property values, or both. If obesity is more evenly distributed among
men, the difference could be great at both ends of the spectrum.
"If this is confirmed, maybe women are more influenced by the home
environment," Mazzaffarian said, adding that he couldn't be sure
unless more research was completed.
He'd also like to know what part property values play in the obesity
equation. Is it just that nicer homes are usually in more walkable
neighborhoods and closer to grocery stores? Or is something else going
on?
Drewnowski has some theories of his own. He believes obesity in women
is closely connected to financial insecurity. Since property values
separate the economically secure from those who worry about where
their next meal is coming from, as well as determining if they are
safe from crime, the differences between women could be related to
stress.
People trying to help others lose weight talk a lot about individual
responsibility and willingness to change, but where you live is not
necessarily a choice, especially not in Seattle where home values are
so high, Drewnowski said.
He also believes that property values measure more than income levels
because they can show something about a person over a longer period of
time. There may also be another social element, since that obesity
rates were affected not just by an individual home value but by all
the homes within the equivalent of a 10-minute walk.
---
Online:
UW School of Public Health: http://sph.washington.edu/
The value of your home may be a stronger predictor of your weight than
the genes inherited from your ancestors, a new public health study
from the University of Washington has found.
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
SEATTLE —
The value of your home may be a stronger predictor of your weight than
the genes inherited from your ancestors, a new public health study
from the University of Washington has found.
Health researchers and government officials usually group people by
income or education level or even by zip code, but this study
illustrates a more targeted approach, according to Adam Drewnowski,
professor of epidemiology at the UW School of Public Health and lead
author of the study.
A random telephone survey in 2008-09 combined with King County tax
records showed women living in the homes in the lowest 25 percent of
the assessed property values in Seattle and the surrounding suburbs
were more than three times more likely to be obese than women living
in the most expensive homes.
This study paid for by the National Institutes of Health and published
online this week in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that
within King County, there are many local pockets or micro-
neighborhoods of better or worse health. Since King County is one of
the healthiest counties in the state, problems like obesity could be
overlooked without more specific data, Drewnowski said.
"Huge social disparities have been buried by looking at data at a very
crude level," he said.
Property values are a short hand for all kinds of things, he added.
Commute times, proximity to parks and other safe places to exercise,
and access to healthy foods may all be related to property values,
depending on where you live.
He expects future studies of other cities or counties to find a
similar correlation between property values and obesity.
Of course, just moving people into richer neighborhoods won't fix
their health problems, he is quick to point out.
The researchers expected to find a difference between the impact on
women and men, since other studies have found that men's health is not
as closely tied to economics, but the differences found in this
research were more dramatic than Drewnowski expected.
For each $238,000 drop in property values, obesity rates went up 80
percent among women, and the differences in obesity rates were as
gradual as the values, the researchers found.
Those gender differences call for confirmation by other research and
some clarification, said Dr. Dariush Mazzaffarian, an associate
professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of
Public Health, who was not involved in this research.
Mazzaffarian said Drewnowski's study made him wonder if there are more
obese women in lower property values or more lean women in higher
property values, or both. If obesity is more evenly distributed among
men, the difference could be great at both ends of the spectrum.
"If this is confirmed, maybe women are more influenced by the home
environment," Mazzaffarian said, adding that he couldn't be sure
unless more research was completed.
He'd also like to know what part property values play in the obesity
equation. Is it just that nicer homes are usually in more walkable
neighborhoods and closer to grocery stores? Or is something else going
on?
Drewnowski has some theories of his own. He believes obesity in women
is closely connected to financial insecurity. Since property values
separate the economically secure from those who worry about where
their next meal is coming from, as well as determining if they are
safe from crime, the differences between women could be related to
stress.
People trying to help others lose weight talk a lot about individual
responsibility and willingness to change, but where you live is not
necessarily a choice, especially not in Seattle where home values are
so high, Drewnowski said.
He also believes that property values measure more than income levels
because they can show something about a person over a longer period of
time. There may also be another social element, since that obesity
rates were affected not just by an individual home value but by all
the homes within the equivalent of a 10-minute walk.
---
Online:
UW School of Public Health: http://sph.washington.edu/
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