Urban living and obesity : is it independent of its population and lifestyle characteristics? Arambepola, Carukshi, Allender, Steven, Ekanayake, R. and Fernando, D. 2008, Urban living and obesity : is it independent of its population and lifestyle characteristics?, Tropical medicine & international health, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 448-457, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3156.2008.02021.x. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Urban living and obesity : is it independent of its population and lifestyle characteristics? Author(s) Arambepola, Carukshi Allender, Steven orcid.org/0000-0002-4842-3294 Ekanayake, R. Fernando, D. Journal name Tropical medicine & international health Volume number 13 Issue number 4 Start page 448 End page 457 Total pages 10 Publisher Wiley - Blackwell Place of publication Oxford, England Publication date 2008-04 ISSN 1360-2276 1365-3156 Keyword(s) urban rural obesity body mass index determinants population-based study Summary OBJECTIVES: Living in an urban area influences obesity. However, little is known about whether this relationship is truly independent of, or merely mediated through, the demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics of urban populations. We aimed to identify and quantify the magnitude of this relationship in a Sri Lankan population. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of adults aged 20-64 years representing the urban (n = 770) and rural (n = 630) populations, in the district of Colombo in 2004. Obesity was measured as a continuous variable using body mass index (BMI). Demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle factors were assessed. Gender-specific multivariable regression models were developed to quantify the independent effect of urban/ rural living and other variables on increased BMI. RESULTS: The BMI (mean; 95% confidence interval) differed significantly between urban (men: 23.3; 22.8-23.8; women: 24.2; 23.7-24.7) and rural (men: 22.3; 21.9-22.7; women: 23.2; 22.7-23.7) sectors (P < 0.01). The observed association remained stable independently of all other variables in the regression models among both men (coefficient = 0.64) and women (coefficient = 0.95). These coefficients equated to 2.2 kg weight for the average man and 1.7 kg for the average woman. Other independent associations of BMI were with income (coefficient = 1.74), marital status (1.48), meal size (1.53) and religion (1.20) among men, and with age (0.87), marital status (2.25) and physical activity (0.96) among women. CONCLUSIONS: Urban living is associated with obesity independently of most other demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics of the population. Targeting urban populations may be useful for consideration when developing strategies to reduce the prevalence of obesity. Language eng DOI 10.1111/j.1365-3156.2008.02021.x Field of Research 111799 Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 970111 Expanding Knowledge in the Medical and Health Sciences HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal HERDC collection year 2008 Copyright notice ©2008, Blackwell Publishing Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30020462 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Health Public Health Research, Evaluation, and Policy Cluster Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Tue, 13 Oct 2009, 15:40:23 EST Tue, 20 Oct 2009, 12:53:43 EST Tue, 20 Oct 2009, 12:59:35 EST Tue, 20 Oct 2009, 13:02:36 EST Wed, 21 Oct 2009, 12:33:11 EST Fri, 09 Aug 2013, 13:23:58 EST Fri, 09 Aug 2013, 13:25:08 EST Mon, 16 Jun 2014, 13:22:30 EST Thu, 11 Dec 2014, 16:18:47 EST Thu, 01 Oct 2020, 19:36:14 EST Thu, 07 Jul 2022, 16:36:43 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 21 times in TR Web of Science Cited 23 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 2038 Abstract Views, 0 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 13 Oct 2009, 15:40:23 EST