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Abstract
We completed a systematic search of the epidemiologic literature on built environment
and obesity and identified 63 relevant papers, which were then evaluated for the quality
of between-study evidence. We were able to classify studies into one of two primary
approaches for defining place and corresponding geographic areas of influence: those
based on contextual effects derived from shared pre-determined administrative units
and those based on individually unique geographic buffers. The 22 contextual papers
evaluated 80 relations, 38 of which did not achieve statistical significance. The
15 buffer papers evaluated 40 relations, 24 of which did not achieve statistical significance.
There was very little between-study similarity in methods in both types of approaches,
which prevented estimation of pooled effects. The great heterogeneity across studies
limits what can be learned from this body of evidence.
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