Description
Background: Obesity is a significant global public health problem and the main cause of many chronic diseases in
both developed and developing countries. The increase in obesity in different populations worldwide cannot be
explained solely by metabolic and genetic factors; environmental and social factors also have a strong association
with obesity. Thus, it is believed that the current obesity epidemic is the result of a complex combination of
genetic factors and an obesogenic environment .The purpose of this study was to evaluate individual variables and
variables within the built and social environment for their potential association with overweight and obesity in an
urban Brazilian population.
Methods: Cross-sectional study was carried out in a sample of 3404 adults living in the urban area of the city.
Information from the surveillance system for chronic diseases of Brazilian Ministry of Health was used and individual
data was collected by telephone interviews. The database was geocoded using the Brazilian System of Postal Codes
for participant residences. An updated, existing list based on the current addresses of supermarkets and
hypermarkets in the city was used as an indicator variable of the availability and access to food. Georeferenced
information on parks, public squares, places for practicing physical activity and the population density were also
used to create data on the built environment. To characterize the social environment, we used the health
vulnerability index (HVI) and georeferenced data for homicide locations.
Results: The prevalence was 44% for overweight, poisson regression was used to create the final model. The
environment variables that independently associated with overweight were the highest population density, very
high health vulnerability index and the homicide rate adjusted for individuals variables. The results of the current
study illustrate and confirm some important associations between individual and environmental variables and
overweight in a representative sample of adults in the Brazilian urban context.
Conclusions: The social environment variables relating to the socioeconomic deprivation of the neighborhood and
the built environment variables relating to higher walkability were significantly associated with overweight and
obesity in Belo Horizonte. This study was funded by Brazilian Ministry of Health (number 134/209). G.
Velásquez- Meléndez is researcher from the National Council for Scientific
and Technological Development (CNPQ) and the Fundação de Amparo à
Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG).
; Nogueira, Helena 
