Table 4.
The associations between childhood obesity (%) and the main variables of interest (distance, income, density and rurality) in a sample of 6771 MSOA in England
| i Model A | % | ii Model B | % | iii Model C | % | iv Model D | % | v Model E | % | vi Model F | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependent variable: % Childhood obesity† | ||||||||||||
| Log(Distance)‡ | −0·597*** | 0·072 | −0·224*** | 0·063 | −0·487*** | 0·094 | −0·534*** | 0·105 | 0·340*** | 0·080 | 0·405*** | 0·099 |
| Income§ | – | −0·000*** | 0·000 | – | – | −0·000*** | 0·000 | −0·000*** | 0·000 | |||
| Population Density|| | – | – | 0·004* | 0·002 | – | 0·019*** | 0·002 | 0·019*** | 0·002 | |||
| Rural MSOA¶ | – | – | −0·183 | 0·199 | – | −0·190 | 0·170 | |||||
| Constant | 22·526*** | 0·071 | 33·873*** | 0·218 | 22·308*** | 0·138 | 22·523*** | 0·071 | 33·162*** | 0·230 | 33·160*** | 0·230 |
| Observations | 6771 | 6771 | 6771 | 6771 | 6771 | 6771 | ||||||
| Adjusted R 2 | 0·010 | 0·315 | 0·010 | 0·010 | 0·328 | 0·328 | ||||||
MSOA = Middle Super Output Area.
Commentary. Adding density in model E resulted in coefficient flipping for supermarket distance, which then showed a positive association with overweight in line with previous research; all the covariates are significant.
Robust standard errors in parenthesis.
P < 0·10,
**P < 0·05,
P < 0·01.
Proportion of overweight children (incl. obese), 2013–16 (averaged) and collapsed to MSOA level.
Road distance from postcode centroid to the nearest supermarket, the variable was log-transformed.
Total annual household income.
Number of persons per hectare.
Urban–rural classification (0-urban, 1-rural).