Abstract P298: An Obesogenic Neighborhood Environment Factor Score and Changes in BMI in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study

We sought to identify obesogenic elements of the neighborhood environment using 15 years of individual-level and GIS-derived data in the CARDIA cohort (n=5,115; aged 18-30 at year 0, 1985/86), and to test associations with 15-year BMI change. We first used reduced rank regression (RRR) to derive a weighted combination (factor score) of environmental variables that explained variability in obesity-promoting diet and physical activity (PA) behaviors. RRR outcome variables were diet quality, fast food consumption, and PA; predictors of these behaviors were neighborhood-level indicators of walkability, PA facilities, restaurants and food stores, food prices, cost of living, population density, and neighborhood SES. In our model, a high score reflected: 1) a greater number of fee-based PA facilities, 2) higher food prices, and 3) higher neighborhood SES. We next quantified the association between the factor score and BMI change, hypothesizing an inverse association. In repeated-measures linear regression (4 waves; n=16,343), we observed significant inverse associations between the time-varying environmental factor score and BMI increases, with larger increases among those younger at baseline (figure), adjusting for time-varying covariates. Using a novel application of RRR, we identified an obesogenic score of environmental components that explained variability in diet and PA behaviors and was associated with BMI change in CARDIA.