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Russ Lopez, MCRP, DSc

Russ Lopez is with the Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Russ Lopez, MCRP, DSc, Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, 715 Albany St, Talbott 2E, Boston, MA 02118 (e-mail: rptlopez{at}bu.edu).

Objectives. I examined the association between urban sprawl and the risk for being overweight or obese among US adults.

Methods. A measure of urban sprawl in metropolitan areas was derived from the 2000 US Census; individual-level data were obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. I used multilevel analysis to assess the association between urban sprawl and obesity.

Results. After I controlled for gender, age, race/ethnicity, income, and education, for each 1-point rise in the urban sprawl index (0–100 scale), the risk for being overweight increased by 0.2% and the risk for being obese increased by 0.5%.

Conclusions. The current obesity epidemic has many causes, but there is an association between urban sprawl and obesity.

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