Parthenope University, Naples, Italy.
Gran Sasso Science Institute - GSSI, L'Aquila, Italy.
Soc Sci Med. 2019 Jan;220:301-311. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.11.013. Epub 2018 Nov 16.
In this paper, we investigate, by means of a Spatial Markov Chains approach, the existence of proximity effects at State level for US data on obesity rates in the period 1990-2011. We find that proximity effects do play an important role in the spatial diffusion of obesity (the obesity 'epidemics'), and that the actual health geography of nearby States in terms of high vs. low obesity rates makes an important difference as to the future evolution of the State's own obesity rate over time. This means, in particular, that clusters of States characterized by uniformly high levels of obesity rates, as it happens for instance in the US Southern macro-region, may suffer from a perverse 'geographical lock-in' effect that calls for coordinated action across States to implement effective countervailing policies.
本文运用空间马尔可夫链方法，考察了美国 1990-2011 年肥胖率数据在州一级的接近效应是否存在。研究发现，接近效应在肥胖（肥胖“流行”）的空间扩散中确实起着重要作用，而且就高肥胖率和低肥胖率而言，附近各州的实际健康地理状况对各州自身肥胖率的未来演变有着重要影响。这意味着，特别是，像美国南部大区那样，肥胖率水平普遍较高的州集群可能会受到一种反常的“地理锁定”效应的影响，需要各州采取协调行动来实施有效的制衡政策。
