Pardee RAND Graduate School, 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA.
Public Health. 2012 Sep;126(9):723-30. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2012.06.009. Epub 2012 Aug 13.
To examine the robustness of the relationship between neighbourhood food environment and youth body mass index (BMI) percentile using alternative measures of food environment and model specifications.
Observational study using individual-level longitudinal survey data of children in fifth and eighth grades merged with food outlet data based on student residential census tracts.
The relationship between food environment and BMI was examined with two individual outcomes (BMI percentile in eighth grade and change in BMI percentile from fifth to eighth grade) and three alternative measures of food environment (per-capita counts of a particular outlet type, food environment indices, and indicators for specific combinations of outlet types).
No consistent evidence was found across measures (counts of a particular type of food outlet per population, food environment indices, and indicators for the presence of specific combinations of types of food stores) and outcomes to support the hypothesis that improved access to large supermarkets results in lower youth BMI; or that greater exposure to fast food restaurants, convenience stores and small food stores increases BMI.
To the extent that there is an association between food environment and youth BMI, the existence of more types of food outlets in an area, including supermarkets, is associated with higher BMI.
利用替代的食品环境衡量指标和模型规范，检验邻里食品环境与青少年体重指数（BMI）百分位之间关系的稳健性。
使用儿童五年级和八年级的个人水平纵向调查数据与基于学生居住普查区的食品销售点数据进行合并，进行观察性研究。
利用两个个体结果（八年级的 BMI 百分位数和五年级到八年级 BMI 百分位数的变化）和三种替代的食品环境衡量指标（特定类型销售点的人均数量、食品环境指数以及特定类型销售点组合的指标），研究食品环境与 BMI 之间的关系。
在各种衡量指标（每人口特定类型食品销售点的数量、食品环境指数以及特定类型食品销售点组合存在的指标）和结果方面，均未发现一致的证据支持以下假设：即改善大型超市的可达性会降低青少年 BMI；或者，更多接触快餐店、便利店和小食品店会增加 BMI。
在食品环境与青少年 BMI 之间存在关联的情况下，一个地区（包括超市在内）存在更多类型的食品销售点与更高的 BMI 有关。
