Table 1.

Individual and Neighborhood Characteristics of Black Women's Health Study Participants Living in New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California, Metropolitan Areas in 1995^ab

	New York (n = 9,992)	Chicago (n = 4,310)	Los Angeles (n = 4,223)	Total (n = 18,525)
Individual characteristics
Mean body mass index, kg/m2	27.9	28.4	27.4	27.9
Mean age, years	38.6	39.4	40.1	39.2
Mean energy intake, kcal/day	1,614.7	1,625.8	1,509.9	1,593.4
Years of education, %
≤12	19.0	14.6	13.4	14.5
13–15	32.8	37.5	40.8	35.7
≥16	47.4	47.3	45.1	46.9
Parity, %
0	38.5	35.3	35.7	37.1
1	22.8	22.3	21.5	22.4
2	20.8	22.5	23.4	21.8
≥3	17.8	19.8	19.3	18.6
Smoking status, %
Current	18.3	18.2	13.4	17.3
Former	20.8	20.1	19.6	20.4
Never	60.9	61.7	66.6	62.4
Presence of chronic disease, %	8.5	9.6	8.7	8.8
Utilitarian walking (hours/week), %
0	17.3	26.4	41.9	25.1
<1	26.7	30.3	27.2	27.7
1–2	27.1	24.7	18.2	24.5
3–4	11.1	6.9	4.4	8.6
5–6	6.2	4.3	2.4	4.9
≥7	8.9	4.9	3.2	6.6
Exercise walking (hours/week), %
0	18.2	20.8	16.5	18.4
<1	22.9	23.7	22.0	22.9
1–2	29.2	27.4	28.4	28.6
3–4	13.5	13.5	16.1	14.1
5–6	7.0	6.8	8.2	7.2
≥7	6.7	5.9	5.6	6.3
Vigorous activity (hours/week), %
0	33.6	32.6	29.5	32.4
<1	15.0	16.2	14.8	15.2
1–2	21.8	22.6	22.6	22.2
3–4	12.3	13.0	14.1	12.9
5–6	5.9	5.5	7.9	6.3
≥7	7.1	6.3	8.3	6.9
Neighborhood characteristics
Density and land use
Median housing density, units/acrec	15.4	6.7	6.0	8.9
Median nonresidential land use, %	61	25	19	41
Median residential land use, %	61	59	67	62
Street structure
Median block area, acres	4.6	5.4	6.9	5.2
Median intersection density, no./square miled	177.1	135.9	134.5	151.1
Median ratio of 4-way to total intersections	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.5
Participants with no major roads in buffer, %	58	60	77	63
Public transit availability
Median miles to a transit stop	0.7	0.8	8.1	1.0
Median miles of bus routes	2.2	1.5	1.5	1.6
Amenities
Participants for whom ≥50% street segments had sidewalk coverage, %	91.7	95.1	97.1	94.0
Median miles to the nearest park	0.4	0.3	0.9	0.4
Other neighborhood characteristics
Mean crime measuree	105.6	192.2	146.8	135.1
Mean SES scoref	−0.07	−0.05	0.25	0.01
Mean vacant housing units, %	5.4	7.0	4.4	5.4

Abbreviation: SES, socioeconomic status.

^aPercentages may not add to 100% because of missing values.

^bExcludes 1,829 women who moved into a study area in 1997 or 1999 (930 in New York, 465 in Chicago, and 434 in Los Angeles).

^cOne acre = 0.4 hectare.

^dOne mile = 1.6 km.

^eOverall range, 1 to 1,204.

^fOverall range, −4.6 to 3.8.