Research
Mixed
Higher Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status (NSES) is associated with lower BMI, lower obesity rates, and lower Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure in postmenopausal women.
Living in a more affluent neighborhood is linked to significantly lower BMI and blood pressure. This is likely due to better access to healthy food, safer environments for walking, and lower stress levels, highlighting the importance of neighborhood quality for health.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
When NSES increased from the 10th to the 90th percentile of its distribution, BMI was lower by 1.26 kg/m2... As NSES increased from the 10th to the 90th percentile, systolic and diastolic BP were lower by 1.11 mm Hg and 0.40 mm Hg, respectively.
Why this rating
Large national sample, robust adjustment, but cross-sectional design limits causal inference.
Source
The Women's Health Initiative: The Food Environment, Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status, BMI, and Blood Pressure
Tamara Dubowitz et al. · Obesity · 2011
DOI 10.1038/oby.2011.141
cross_sectional · n=60775Cited 176×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Increased availability of grocery stores and supermarkets in a residential neighborhood is associated with lower Body Mass Index (BMI) and lower Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) in postmenopausal women.Good
- Increased availability of fast-food restaurants in a residential neighborhood is associated with higher Body Mass Index (BMI) and higher obesity rates in postmenopausal women.Good
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