Residential location, commute distance, and body size: Cross-sectional observational study of state and territory capital cities in Australia

Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and body size in Australia’s capital cities: The contribution of obesogenic environments

“…Similar findings have been reported in other Australian studies [55]. We also found residents of neighbourhoods more distant from the CBD had greater BMI (in seven of eight cities [Darwin is the exception]) and a larger waist circumference (in five cities, with Hobart, Darwin and Canberra the exceptions) than residents of neighbourhoods closer to the CBD, which also concurs with previous Australian research [44]. Building on the foregoing, our multivariable modelling showed that when associations between neighbourhood disadvantage and body size were adjusted for residential distance to the CBD, the magnitude of the neighbourhood differences were attenuated in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth: between 28.5% and 4.0% for BMI, and between 26.8% and 4.7% for waist circumference.…”

“…To support our secondary aim of assessing generalisability of findings from one city to other cities, and due to findings from previous studies using the NHS data which indicated between-city variation in the relationships between environmental indicators and body size [44,45] analyses in this study were stratified by city. A multi-level modelling approach was used with the unit of analysis at the level of the individual, adjusting for covariates and accounting for clustering of individuals within SA1's.…”

“…These types of neighbourhoods are less walkable, they are often located a long way from employment and essential services, they require greater reliance on private motor vehicles, and are less conducive to the use of public transport and active travel (i.e., waking and cycling). In short, neighbourhoods further from the city are more likely to be obesogenic, and residents of these neighbourhoods are more likely to be overweight or obese [37,43,44].…”

“…The ABS conducted sensitivity tests finding that differences between the 'measured only' data and the 'measured and imputed' data were negligible, with the latter deemed by the ABS to be of 'suitable quality' [39]. Therefore, consistent with previous Australian research, [44,45] this study used 'measured and imputed' body size data as provided by the ABS.…”

Commuting to work post-pandemic: Opportunities for health?

“…In a longitudinal study of Swedish workers, and controlling for neighborhood SES and other factors, commuting distance had a dose response relationship with physical inactivity (Raza et al, 2021). These health behaviours can affect weight and studies of in-vehicle time, commute distance, and commute time show associations with BMI or obesity (Carroll et al, 2021;Dunton et al, 2009;Frank et al, 2004;Hoehner et al, 2012;Künn-Nelen, 2016;McCormack and Virk, 2014;Sha et al, 2019;Sugiyama et al, 2020).…”