Gender- and Ethnic-Specific Associations with Obesity: Individual and Neighborhood-Level Factors

Objective Gender- and ethnicity-specific groups face different risks for obesity, but little is understood about the factors that predict group-specific risks. We evaluated individual and neighborhood factors in relation to obesity. Design Cross-sectional surveys of adults (ages 18-100 years) from southeastern Pennsylvania were analyzed. Individual- and neighborhood-level factors were included in fully-adjusted regression models to estimate relationships with obesity for specific gender-ethnic groups. The study included 679 Asian women, 655 Asian men, 4190 African-American women, 1568 African-American men, 1248 Hispanic women, 586 Hispanic men, 11791 European American women, and 6547 European American men. Results There were significant differences in the predictors of obesity by gender-ethnic groups. Obesity was differentially associated with age (p Conclusions We observed that individual- and neighborhood-level variables are associated with obesity. Several individual-level effects differ by gender-ethnic group. Publication Index PubMed