Abstract
Objective
To examine school-level opportunity structures of the built environment and student characteristics associated with being overweight.
Methods
Multi-level logistic regression analysis were used to examine the school- and student-level characteristics associated with the odds of a student being overweight among grade 5–8 students attending 30 elementary schools in Ontario, Canada, as part of the Play-Ontario (PLAY-ON) study.
Results
Significant between school random variation in overweight was identified [σ 2μ0 = 0.187 (0.084), P < 0.001]; school-level differences accounted for 5.4% of the variability in the odds of a student being overweight. The more fast-food retailers there were surrounding a school, the more likely a student was to be overweight; students in grade 5 were at increased risk relative to students in grades 6–8. The more grocery stores there were surrounding a school, the more likely a student was to be overweight; students in grade 5 were at increased risk relative to students in grades 6–8.
Conclusions
Developing a better understanding of the school- and student-level characteristics associated with overweight among youth is critical for informing intervention programs and policies.
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Acknowledgments
The project was conducted by the Population Health Research Group at the University of Waterloo under the management of Chad Bredin. Funding for the student-level data collection was provided by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario (grant awarded to S. Leatherdale). Funding for the data linkage to the built environment data was provided by Cancer Care Ontario and the Canadian Heart Health Surveys Longitudinal Follow-up Study Ancillary and Pilot Project (Awarded to E. Hobin and S. Leatherdale). Dr. Leatherdale is a Cancer Care Ontario Research Chair in Population Studies. The Canadian Cancer Society provided funding to develop SHAPES, the system used to collect the PLAY-ON data. Erin Hobin is funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the CIHR/Training Grant in Population Intervention for Chronic Disease Prevention: A Pan-Canadian Program (Grant #: 53893) as well as a CIHR Doctoral Award in Public Health.
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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Leatherdale, S.T., Pouliou, T., Church, D. et al. The association between overweight and opportunity structures in the built environment: a multi-level analysis among elementary school youth in the PLAY-ON study. Int J Public Health 56, 237–246 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-010-0206-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-010-0206-8