Are children’s weights related to

neighborhood safety?

Morgan Yates, RN, MN (student)University of Calgaryyatesmt@ucalgary.ca

Research Team

• Karen Benzies, RN, PhD - University of Calgary, Nursing• Deborah McNeil, RN, PhD – Alberta Health Services• Alka Patel, PhD - Alberta Health Services

Outdoor Play and Obesity

• 31.5% of youth aged 5 to 17 are overweight or obese [1].

• The rate of childhood obesity in Canada has increased 2.5 times in the last 30 years [2].

• High neighborhood crime levels may limit children’s outdoor play and physical activity [3, 4], thus influencing obesity levels.

Perceptions of Crime

• As parents perceive an increased risk of their child witnessing or being a victim of crime, they are less likely to allow outdoor play by their child [4].

• People worry about crimes they know about. These tend to be:– Local crimes that get discussed by neighbors– City wide crimes that are presented in the media– National crimes that get extensive media coverage [5]

• Research has found that many more people think they will become a victim than are ever victimized [5]

Research Question

What is the association between the Body Mass Index (BMI) of 4 to 7 year old children, in Calgary Canada, and the safety of the

neighborhood they live in, as measured by neighborhood crime statistics, after controlling for neighborhood level income, neighborhood

level parental education, neighborhood level visible minorities and proximity to parks and green space?

Methods

• Secondary data analysis, cross-sectional study design using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a tool for spatial comparison

• Logistic regression will be used to model whether there is an association between crime and the number of overweight and obese children

• The data that were used for this study include:– BMI data for children aged 4 to 7 years, in the Calgary region– crime data for each of the 218 communities in Calgary (publically

available at http://crimemap.calgarypolice.ca/) – information on community level income, parental education and

ethnicity– information on the location of Calgary’s parks and trails

• Analysis– Spatial component using ArcGIS software– Three spheres of crime’s influence – Logistic regression (remains to be completed)

Results

• Sample Demographics– 10,069 mappable BMI points– 49% female and 51% male– mean age was 60 months (5 years) – 4.4% underweight, 74.7% normal weight, 12.4% overweight and

8.5% obese

Final Points

• Obese children do live closer to crime when income, ethnicity and education level are not controlled for

• These confounder play a huge role in both crime and obesity, so it is hard to separate out the specific effect of crime

• Some types of crime, mainly crimes which get more media attention, do seem to still have effect on obesity, even when controlling for income, ethnicity and education level – HOWEVER this work is still in progress so NO conclusions can be made at this time

References

1. Active Healthy Kids Canada, A., Is Active Play Extinct?, 2012, Author: Toronto Canada.

• Hodgson, C., Obesity in Canada, 2011, Public Health Agency of Canada: Ottawa, Canada.

• Kimbro, R., J. Brooks-Gunn, and S. McLanahan, Young children in urban areas: Links among neighborhood characteristics, weight status, outdoor play, and television watching. Social Science and Medicine, 2011. 72(5): p. 668-76.

• Kalish, M., et al., Outdoor play: A survey of parent's perceptions of their child's safety. Journal of Trauma, 2010. 69(4 Suppl): p. S218-22.

• Hale, C., Fear of Crime: A Review of the Literature. International Review of Victimology, 1996. 4(2): p. 79-150.