Some neighborhoods appear to promote obesity
Eicher is exploring one of the most urgent issues in public health today. Over the past 30 years, waistlines have expanded dramatically across the United States and around the world. In Massachusetts, nearly 60 percent of adults and one in three children are overweight or obese. And the burdens of all that excess girth—chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and the high medical expenses and lost productivity that come with them—are not shared equally across the population. Massachusetts Department of Public Health statistics reveal dis-
parities in obesity rates that track differences in income, level of education, and race. Some blame individual choices for these disparities, but SHDH researchers believe that people’s environments often set them up for failure. “Individual interventions to prevent obesity have not worked well,” says Ichiro Kawachi, professor of social epidemiology and SHDH department chair. “At the same time, we see enormous differences in obesity rates between neighborhoods. In Boston alone, there’s a twofold difference between residents in lowincome and higher-income neighborhoods. Even when we control
“ Even when we control for factors such as income, race, and education levels, there appears to be something about certain neighborhoods that promotes obesity”
Ichiro Kawachi, chair, Department of Society,
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Harvard Public Health Review
Building a complete picture
Eicher is focused on teasing out these factors. For her dissertation, she is exploring whether living close to a supermarket leads to more fruit and vegetable consumption, and how perceptions about the safety and cohesion of a neighborhood can affect residents’ likelihood of using services such as public parks, which can help promote physical activity. In some neighborhoods, residents have scant access to nutritious foods.
She is analyzing data from a cancerrisk survey of 828 people who lived in 20 public and private lowincome housing sites in Cambridge, Somerville, and Chelsea, Massachusetts, between 2007 and 2009—a study she was involved in as a master’s student working with SHDH Professor Glorian Sorensen at Dana-Farber’s Center for Community-Based Research. She
Kent Dayton/HSPH
Human Development, and Health
for factors such as income, race, and education levels, there appears to be something about certain neighborhoods that promotes obesity.”