"Obesity in the City" – urbanization, health risks and rising obesity rates from the viewpoint of human biology and public health

Authors

  • Sylvia Kirchengast University of Vienna, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Djerassiplatz 1, A-1030 Vienna, Austria https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3220-7271
  • Dominik Hagmann University of Vienna, Institute for Cliassical Archeology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v2.11

Keywords:

spatial differences, childehood obesity, Vienna, gender

Abstract

In 2007, for the first time worldwide, more people lived in urban conurbations than in rural settlement structures. This advancing urbanization has dramatically altered the living situation, the use of space, as well as human behavior along with the health situation and disease burden. This process began in Europe as early as the 19th century, while developing and emerging countries in particular are currently exposed to increasing urbanization. The burden of disease is clearly altered by living in a confined space, by environmental pollution in urban areas, the impossibility of producing food oneself, and being lost in an anonymous crowd. While city air made people “free” in medieval times, it often makes them “sick” today. Obesogenic environments represent a special problem in urban areas. A lack of physical activity, adverse dietary habits, and stressful and unsafe neighborhoods increase the risk of becoming overweight and obese in urban centers. Recently, modernization in rural areas and an adaptation to urban habits there increase the obesity rates in rural areas in high-income as well as low- and middle-income countries, too. Within cities, marked spatial differences in the prevalence of overweight and obesity occur. In Vienna, Austria, overweight and obesity rates during childhood and adolescence differ markedly between the individual Viennese districts. Highest overweight and obesity rates occur in districts characterized by a low socioeconomic status. 

References

Statistik Austria (Eds.) (2019). Demographic Yearbook. Wien : Verlag Österreich GmbH.

Aggarwal, B./Jain, V. (2018). Obesity in children: definition, etiology and approach. Indian Journal of Pediatrics 85 (6), 463–471. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-017-2531-x.

Antiporta, D. A./Smeeth, L./Gilman, R. H./Miranda, J. J. (2016). Length of urban residence and obesity among within-country rural-to-urban Andean migrants. Public Health Nutrition 19 (7), 1270–1278. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980015002578.

Antón, S. C./Snodgrass, J. (2012). Origins and evolution of genus homo. Current Anthropology 53 (S6), S479-S496. https://doi.org/10.1086/667692.

Armelagos, G. J./Brown, Peter J./Turner, B. (2005). Evolutionary, historical and political economic perspectives on health and disease. Social Science & Medicine (1982) 61 (4), 755–765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.066.

Bachinger, E. (2003). Lebenserwartung und Mortalität in Wien und Österreich ‐ Internationaler Vergleich. Wien : Stadt Wien.

Ball, K./Crawford, D. (2005). Socioeconomic status and weight change in adults: a review. Social Science & Medicine 60 (9), 1987–2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.056.

Barrett, R./Kuzawa, Ch. W./McDade, T./Armelagos, G. J. (1998). Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases: The third epidemiologic transition. Annual Review of Anthropology 27 (1), 247–271. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.27.1.247.

Blanco, M. L./Jimenez, M. L./Castellano, H. M. (1992). Urban-rural differences in the growth status of Venezuelan children. American Journal of Human Biology 4 (1), 105–113. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.1310040113.

Blüher, M. (2019). Obesity: global epidemiology and pathogenesis. Nature Reviews Endocrinology 15 (5), 288–298. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-019-0176-8.

Bogin, B. (2021). Patterns of Human Growth. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Bork, T./Butsch, C./Kraas, F./Kroll, M. (2009). Megastädte - Neue Risiken für die Gesundheit. Deutsches Ärzteblatt 39 (106), 1877–1881.

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment. New York, Basic Books.

Boztepe, K./Hammer, P./König, K. (2019). Migrantinnen und Migranten in Wien 2019. Stadt Wien ‐ Integration und Diversität. Available online at https://www.digital.wienbibliothek.at/wbrup/content/titleinfo/3108775.

Brown, P. J. (1991). Culture and the evolution of obesity. Human Nature 2 (1), 31–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02692180.

Brussaard, J. H./van Erp-Baart, M. A./Brants, H. A./Hulshof, K. F./Löwik, M. R. (2001). Nutrition and health among migrants in The Netherlands. Public Health Nutrition 4 (2B), 659–664. https://doi.org/10.1079/PHN2001149.

Calhoun, J. B. (1962). Population density and social pathology. Scientific American 206, 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0262-139.

Canfield, R. L./Henderson, C. R./Cory-Slechta, D. A./Cox, C./Jusko, T. A./Lanphear, B. P. (2003). Intellectual impairment in children with blood lead concentrations below 10 microg per deciliter. The New England Journal of Medicine 348 (16), 1517–1526. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa022848.

Carballo, M./Divino, J. J./Zeric, D. (1998). Migration and health in the European Union. Tropical Medicine & International Health 3 (12), 936–944. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3156.1998.00337.x.

Carson, S. A. (2020). Biological differences between late 19th and early 20th century urban and rural residence 2020. Available online at https://www.cesifo.org/en/publikationen/2020/working-paper/biological-differences-between-late-19th-and-early-20th-century (accessed 4/6/2021).

Caves, R. W. (2005). Encyclopedia of the city. London : Routledge.

Chatterjee, P. (2002). India sees parallel rise in malnutrition and obesity. The Lancet 360 (9349), 1948. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11943-X.

Chiurazzi, M./Cozzolino, M./Orsini, R. C./Di Maro, Martina/Di Minno, M. N. D./Colantuoni, A. (2020). Impact of genetic variations and epigenetic mechanisms on the risk of obesity. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 21 (23). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21239035.

Chooi, Y. C./Ding, C./Magkos, F. (2019). The epidemiology of obesity. Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental 92, 6–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2018.09.005.

Cohen, M. N./Armelagos, G. J./Larsen, C. S. (Eds.) (2013). Paleopathology at the origins of agriculture. Gainesville : University Press of Florida.

Congdon, P. (2019). Obesity and urban environments. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16 (3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16030464.

Davis, K. (1955). The origin and growth of urbanization in the world. American Journal of Sociology 60 (5), 429–437. https://doi.org/10.1086/221602.

Dong, Y./Ma, Y./Dong, B./Zou, Z./Hu, P./Wang, Z./Yang, Y./Song, Y./Ma, J. (2019). Geographical variation and urban-rural disparity of overweight and obesity in Chinese school-aged children between 2010 and 2014: two successive national cross-sectional surveys. BMJ Open 9 (4), e025559. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025559.

Duignan, B. (2019). Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago : Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.

Dunbar, R. I. M. (1993). Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4), 681–694. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00032325.

Eaton, S. B./Konner, M. (1985). Paleolithic nutrition. A consideration of its nature and current implications. The New England Journal of Medicine 312 (5), 283–289. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198501313120505.

Ebbeling, C. B./Pawlak, D. B./Ludwig, D. S. (2002). Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. The Lancet 360 (9331), 473–482. Available online at https://www.academia.edu/2318105/Childhood_obesity_public_health_crisis_common_sense_cure.

Ebrahim, S./Kinra, S./Bowen, L./Andersen, E./Ben-Shlomo, Y./Lyngdoh, T./Ramakrishnan, L./Ahuja, R. C./Joshi, P./Das, S. M./Mohan, M./Smith, G. D./Prabhakaran, D./Reddy, K. S. (2011). Correction: The Effect of rural-to-urban migration on obesity and diabetes in India: A cross-sectional study. PLoS Medicine 8 (5). https://doi.org/10.1371/annotation/b1ecad56-652a-4a30-9920-26679d5a584a.

FAO (2008). The state of food insecurity in the world. Roma 2008.

Faskunger, J./Eriksson, U./Johansson, S.-E./Sundquist, K./Sundquist, J. (2009). Risk of obesity in immigrants compared with Swedes in two deprived neighbourhoods. BMC public health 9, 304. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-9-304.

Florentino, R. F. (2002). The burden of obesity in Asia: Challenges in assessment, prevention and management. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 11, S676-S680. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-6047.11.s8.4.x.

Ford, E. S./Mokdad, A. H. (2008). Epidemiology of obesity in the western hemisphere. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 93 (11 Suppl 1), S1-8. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2008-1356.

Gnavi, R./Spagnoli, T. D./Galotto, C./Pugliese, E./Carta, A./Cesari, L. (2000). Socioeconomic status, overweight and obesity in prepuberal children: a study in an area of Northern Italy. European Journal of Epidemiology 16 (9), 797–803. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007645703292.

Griffin, E. (2018). Diets, hunger and living standards during the british industrial revolution. Past & Present 239 (1), 71–111. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtx061.

Groeneveld, I. F./Solomons, N. W./Doak, C. M. (2007). Nutritional status of urban schoolchildren of high and low socioeconomic status in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica - Pan American Journal of Public Health 22 (3), 169–177. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1020-49892007000800003.

Gushulak, B. D./MacPherson, D. W. (2006). The basic principles of migration health: population mobility and gaps in disease prevalence. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology 3, 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-7622-3-3.

Haas, J. S./Lee, L. B./Kaplan, C. P./Sonneborn, D./Phillips, K. A./Liang, S.-Y. (2003). The association of race, socioeconomic status, and health insurance status with the prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents. American Journal of Public Health 93 (12), 2105–2110. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.93.12.2105.

Han, J. C./Lawlor, D. A./Kimm, S. Y. S. (2010). Childhood obesity. The Lancet 375 (9727), 1737–1748. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60171-7.

Haslam, D. (2007). Obesity: a medical history. Obesity Reviews 8 Suppl 1, 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2007.00314.x.

Hook, J. van/Balistreri, K. S. (2007). Immigrant generation, socioeconomic status, and economic development of countries of origin: a longitudinal study of body mass index among children. Social Science & Medicine 65 (5), 976–989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.04.032.

Hossain, P./Kawar, B./El Nahas, M. (2007). Obesity and diabetes in the developing world‐a growing challenge. The New England Journal of Medicine 356 (3), 213–215. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp068177.

Hu, Yan/Lin, Weiqun/Tan, Xuying/Liu, Yu/Wen, Yuqi/Xing, Yanfei/Ma, Ying/Liu, Huiyan/Song, Yanyan/Liang, Jingjing/Lam, Kin Bong Hubert/Lin, Suifang (2020). Trends in urban/rural inequalities in physical growth among Chinese children over three decades of urbanization in Guangzhou: 1985-2015. BMC Public Health 20 (1), 1190. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09239-7.

Jaffar, S. T. A./Chen, L.-Z./Younas, H./Ahmad, N. (2017). Heavy metals pollution assessment in correlation with magnetic susceptibility in topsoils of Shanghai. Environmental Earth Sciences 76 (7). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6598-5.

Jenks, G. F./Caspall, F. C. (1971). Error on choroplethic maps: Definition, measurement, reduction. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 61 (2), 217–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1971.tb00779.x.

Kaplan, M. S./Huguet, N./Newsom, J. T./McFarland, B. H. (2004). The association between length of residence and obesity among Hispanic immigrants. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 27 (4), 323–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2004.07.005.

Kaupová, S./Brůzek, J./Velemínský, P./Cerníková, A. (2013). Urban-rural differences in stature in the population of medieval Bohemia. Anthropologischer Anzeiger 70 (1), 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2012/0276.

Khan, M. M. H./Kraemer, A. (2014). Are rural-urban migrants living in urban slums more vulnerable in terms of housing, health knowledge, smoking, mental health and general health? International Journal of Social Welfare 23 (4), 373–383. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12053.

Kilaf, E./Kirchengast, S. (2011). Socio-economic position and obesity among Turkish migrant women in Vienna, Austria. Journal of Life Sciences 3 (2), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/09751270.2011.11885177.

Kimm, S. Y. S./Obarzanek, E. (2002). Childhood obesity: a new pandemic of the new millennium. Pediatrics 110 (5), 1003–1007. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.110.5.1003.

Kirchengast, S./Hagmann, D. (2021). Spatial disparity in the prevalence of childhood obesity in Vienna. 2021: in prep.

Kirchengast, S./Schober, E. (2006). To be an immigrant: a risk factor for developing overweight and obesity during childhood and adolescence? Journal of Biosocial Science 38 (5), 695–705. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932005027094.

Kirchengast, S./Singh, M./Kilaf, E. (2012). Obesity prevalence and socioeconomic position among two different groups of immigrant women in Vienna, Austria. In: M. P. Martinez/H. Robinson (Eds.). Obesity and Weight Management: Challenges, Practices and Health Implications. NOVA Publisher, 71–92.

Komlos, J. (1986). Patterns of children’s growth in east-central Europe in the eighteenth century. Annals of Human Biology 13 (1), 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014468600008181.

Komlos, J. (Ed.) (1994). Stature, living standards, and economic development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago Press.

Komlos, J. (Ed.) (1998). The biological standard of living in comparative perspective: Contributions to the conference held in Munich January 18-22, 1997, for the XIIth Congress of the International Economic History Association. Stuttgart : Steiner.

Kromeyer-Hausschild, K./Wabitsch, M./Kunze, D./Geller, F./Geiß, H. C./Hesse, V./von Hippel, A./Jäger, U./Korte, W./Menner, K./Müller, G./Müller, J. M./Niemann-Pilatus, A./Remer, T./Schäfer, F./Wittchen, H. U./Zabransky, S./Zellner, K./Ziegler, A./Hebebrand, J. (2001). Perzentile für den Bodymass Index für das Kindes- und Jugendalter unter Heranziehung verschiedener deutscher Stichproben. Monatsschrift Kinderheilkunde (149), 807–818.

Lasserre, A. M./Chiolero, A./Paccaud, F./Bovet, P. (2007). Worldwide trends in childhood obesity. Swiss Medical Weekly 137 (9-10), 157–158.

Leon, D. A. (2008). Cities, urbanization and health. International Journal of Epidemiology 37 (1), 4–8. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dym271.

Lieberman, L. S. (2006). Evolutionary and anthropological perspectives on optimal foraging in obesogenic environments. Appetite 47 (1), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2006.02.011.

Lissner, L./Wijnhoven, T. M. A./Mehlig, K./Sjöberg, A./Kunesova, M./Yngve, A./Petrauskiene, A./Duleva, V./Rito, A. I./Breda, J. (2016). Socioeconomic inequalities in childhood overweight: heterogeneity across five countries in the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI-2008). International Journal of Obesity 40 (5), 796–802. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2016.12.

Logan, A. C./Jacka, F. N. (2014). Nutritional psychiatry research: an emerging discipline and its intersection with global urbanization, environmental challenges and the evolutionary mismatch. Journal of Physiological Anthropology 33, 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/1880-6805-33-22.

Mahase, E. (2019). Obesity rates are increasing more rapidly in rural areas than in cities. BMJ 365, l2088. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l2088.

Maher, L. A./Richter, T./Macdonald, D./Jones, M. D./Martin, L./Stock, J. T. (2012). Twenty thousand-year-old huts at a hunter-gatherer settlement in eastern Jordan. PloS One 7 (2), e31447. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031447.

Martínez-Carrión, J.-M./Moreno-Lázaro, J. (2007). Was there an urban height penalty in Spain, 1840-1913? Economics and Human Biology 5 (1), 144–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2006.09.001.

Matthews, C. M. (2012). Exploring the obesity epidemic. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center) 25 (3), 276–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2012.11928848.

McGee, D. L. (2005). Body mass index and mortality: a meta-analysis based on person-level data from twenty-six observational studies. Annals of Epidemiology 15 (2), 87–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2004.05.012.

Miller, G. (2016). Roots of the urban mind. Science 352 (6288), 908–911. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.352.6288.908.

Misra, A./Ganda, O. P. (2007). Migration and its impact on adiposity and type 2 diabetes. Nutrition 23 (9), 696–708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2007.06.008.

Mou, J./Griffiths, S. M./Fong, H./Dawes, M. G. (2013). Health of China’s rural-urban migrants and their families: a review of literature from 2000 to 2012. British Medical Bulletin 106, 19–43. https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldt016.

Mumford, L. (1961). The city in history: Its origins, its transformations, and its prospects. San Diego and New York and London, Harcourt Inc.

Must, A./Jacques, P. F./Dallal, G. E./Bajema, C. J./Dietz, W. H. (1992). Long-term morbidity and mortality of overweight adolescents. A follow-up of the Harvard Growth Study of 1922 to 1935. The New England Journal of Medicine 327 (19), 1350–1355. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199211053271904.

Najera, H./Nandy, S./Carrillo-Larco, R. M./Miranda, J. J. (2019). Within-country migration and obesity dynamics: analysis of 94,783 women from the Peruvian demographic and health surveys. BMC public health 19 (1), 263. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6586-7.

NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (2019). Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults. Nature 569 (7755), 260–264. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1171-x.

Neiderud, C.-J. (2015). How urbanization affects the epidemiology of emerging infectious diseases. Infection Ecology & Epidemiology 5, 27060. https://doi.org/10.3402/iee.v5.27060.

Nurwanti, E./Hadi, H./Chang, J.-S./Chao, J. C.-J./Paramashanti, B. A./Gittelsohn, J./Bai, C.-H. (2019). Rural-urban differences in dietary Behavior and obesity: Results of the Riskesdas study in 10-18-year-old indonesian children and adolescents. Nutrients 11 (11). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11112813.

Ogden, C. L./Fryar, C. D./Hales, C. M./Carroll, M. D./Aoki, Y./Freedman, D. S. (2018). Differences in obesity prevalence by demographics and urbanization in US children and adolescents, 2013-2016. JAMA 319 (23), 2410–2418. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.5158.

Paciorek, C. J./Stevens, G. A./Finucane, M. M./Ezzati, M. (2013). Children’s height and weight in rural and urban populations in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic analysis of population-representative data. The Lancet Global Health 1 (5), e300-e309. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(13)70109-8.

Pijl, H. (2011). Obesity: evolution of a symptom of affluence. The Netherlands Journal of Medicine 69 (4), 159–166.

Pollard, T. M. (2008). Western diseases: An evolutionary perspective. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Popkin, B. M. (2001). The nutrition transition and obesity in the developing world. The Journal of Nutrition 131 (3), 871S-873S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/131.3.871S.

Popkin, B. M. (2003). The nutrition transition in the developing world. Development Policy Review 21 (5-6), 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8659.2003.00225.x.

Popkin, B. M./Gordon-Larsen, P. (2004). The nutrition transition: worldwide obesity dynamics and their determinants. International Journal of Obesity and related Metabolic Disorders 28 Suppl 3, S2-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802804.

Popkin, B. M./Udry, J. R. (1998). Adolescent obesity increases significantly in second and third generation U.S. immigrants: the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. The Journal of Nutrition 128 (4), 701–706. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/128.4.701.

Poston, W. S. C./Foreyt, J. P. (1999). Obesity is an environmental issue. Atherosclerosis 146 (2), 201–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9150(99)00258-0.

Poulsen, P. H./Biering, K./Winding, T. N./Nohr, E. A./Andersen, J. H. (2018). How does childhood socioeconomic position affect overweight and obesity in adolescence and early adulthood: a longitudinal study. BMC obesity 5, 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40608-018-0210-8.

Qian, Z./Zhang, J./Wei, F./Wilson, W. E./Chapman, R. S. (2001). Long-term ambient air pollution levels in four Chinese cities: inter-city and intra-city concentration gradients for epidemiological studies. Journal of exposure analysis and environmental epidemiology 11 (5), 341–351. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500170.

Rami, B./Schober, E./Kirchengast, S./Waldhör, T./Sefranek, R. (2004). Prevalence of overweight and obesity in male adolescents in Austria between 1985 and 2000. A population based study. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism 17 (1), 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1515/jpem.2004.17.1.67.

Ramsden, E. (2009). The urban animal: population density and social pathology in rodents and humans. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 87 (2), 82. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.09.062836.

Roberts, C. A. (2016). Palaeopathology and its relevance to understanding health and disease today: the impact of the environment on health, past and present. Anthropological Review 79 (1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1515/anre-2016-0001.

Roberts, C. A./Lewis, M. E. (2002). Ecology and infectious disease in Britain from prehistory to the present: The Case of Respiratory infections. Biennial Books of EEA (2), 179–192.

Rona, R. J. (2000). The impact of the environment on height in Europe: conceptual and theoretical considerations. Annals of human biology 27 (2), 111–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/030144600282235.

Scheidl, W. (2010). Disease and death in the ancient city of Rome. In: P. Erdkamp (Ed.). The Companion to Ancient Rome. Cambridge University Press.

Schell, L. M. (2010). Industrial polluntants and human evolution. In: M. P. Mühlenheim (Ed.). Human Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge University Press, 566–580.

Schell, L. M. (2014). Culture, urbanism and changing human biology. Global Bioethics - Problemi di bioetica 25 (2), 147–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/11287462.2014.897070.

Schell, L. M./Gallo, M. V./Ravenscroft, J. (2009). Environmental influences on human growth and development: historical review and case study of contemporary influences. Annals of human biology 36 (5), 459–477. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460903067159.

Schonfield, R./Reher, D./Bideau, A. (1991). The decline of mortality in Europe. Oxford, Clarendon Press Oxford.

Schott, D. (2014). Europäische Urbanisierung (1000 - 2000): Eine umwelthistorische Einführung. Köln, Böhlau.

Shekar, M./Popkin, B. (Eds.) (2020). Obesity: Health and economic consequences of an impending global challenge. Washington, DC.

Shen, C./Zhou, Z./Lai, S./Tao, X./Zhao, D./Dong, W./Li, D./Lan, X./Gao, J. (2019). Urban-rural-specific trend in prevalence of general and central obesity, and association with hypertension in Chinese adults, aged 18-65 years. BMC public health 19 (1), 661. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7018-4.

Smith, M. J. de/Goodchild, M. F./Longley, P. (2020). Geospatial analysis: A comprehensive guide to principles, techniques and software tools. 6th ed. Leicester, Matador.

Spinelli, A./Buoncristiano, M./Kovacs, V. A./Yngve, A./Spiroski, I./Obreja, G./Starc, G./Pérez, N./Rito, A. I./Kunešová, M./Sant’Angelo, V. F./Meisfjord, J./Bergh, I. H./Kelleher, C./Yardim, N./Pudule, I./Petrauskiene, A./Duleva, V./Sjöberg, A./Gualtieri, A./Hassapidou, M./Hyska, J./Burazeri, G./Petrescu, C. H./Heinen, M./Takacs, H./Zamrazilová, H./Bosi, T. B./Sacchini, E./Pagkalos, I./Cucu, A./Nardone, P./Gately, P./Williams, J./Breda, J. (2019). Prevalence of severe obesity among primary school children in 21 european countries. Obesity facts 12 (2), 244–258. https://doi.org/10.1159/000500436.

Stadt Wien (2011). Bezirksgrenzen Wien: Bezirksgrenzen, Wien Politische Landesgrenze und Bezirksgrenzen von Wien 2011. Available online at https://www.data.gv.at/katalog/dataset/86c29af5-c52c-423d-8764-82c1bb037936.

Stadt Wien (2012). Landesgrenze Wien: Politische Landesgrenze von Wien 2012. Available online at https://www.spatialanalysisonline.com/HTML/index.html?classification_and_clustering.htm.

Stringer, C. (2016). The origin and evolution of Homo sapiens. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 371 (1698). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0237.

Swinburn, B./Egger, G./Raza, F. (1999). Dissecting obesogenic environments: the development and application of a framework for identifying and prioritizing environmental interventions for obesity. Preventive medicine 29 (6 Pt 1), 563–570. https://doi.org/10.1006/pmed.1999.0585.

Tanner, J. M./Eveleth, P. B. (1976). Urbanization and growth. In: G.B. Harrison/J. B. Gibson (Eds.). Man in Urban Environments. Oxford, Clarendon OPress, 144–166.

Thaker, V. V. (2017). Genetic and epigenetic causes of obesity. Adolescent Medicine 28 (2), 379–405.

Timmermans, J./Dijkstra, C./Kamphuis, C./Huitink, M./Zee, E. van der/Poelman, M. (2018). ’Obesogenic’ school food environments? An urban case study in The Netherlands. International journal of environmental research and public health 15 (4). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040619.

Ulijaszek, S. J. (2007). Obesity: a disorder of convenience. Obesity Reviews 8 Suppl 1, 183–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2007.00339.x.

Ulijaszek, S. J./Lofink, H. (2006). Obesity in biocultural perspective // Obesity in Biocultural Perspective. Annual Review of Anthropology 35 (1), 337–360. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123301.

United Nations (Ed.) (2015). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. ST/ESA/SER.A/366. Available online at https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/publications/2014-revision-world-urbanization-prospects.html (accessed 4/6/2021).

Vlahov, D./Freudenberg, N./Proietti, F./Ompad, D./Quinn, A./Nandi, V./Galea, S. (2007). Urban as a determinant of health. Journal of Urban Health 84 (3 Suppl), i16-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-007-9169-3.

Wang, Y. C./McPherson, K./Marsh, T./Gortmaker, S. L./Brown, M. (2011). Health and economic burden of the projected obesity trends in the USA and the UK. The Lancet 378 (9793), 815–825. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60814-3.

Wang, Y./Beydoun, M. A. (2007). The obesity epidemic in the United States‐gender, age, socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and geographic characteristics: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Epidemiologic reviews 29, 6–28. https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxm007.

Wang, Y./Lobstein, T. (2006). Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity 1 (1), 11–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/17477160600586747.

WHO (2000). Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. Geneva, WHO.

WHO (2010). World Health Organization Global Database on Body mass index. Geneva, WHO.

WHO (2020). World Health Organization. Obesity and Overweight. Geneva, WHO.

Wilkinson, T. J./Philip, G./Bradbury, J./Dunford, R./Donoghue, D./Galiatsatos, N./Lawrence, D./Ricci, A./Smith, S. L. (2014). Contextualizing early urbanization. Settlement cores, early states and agro-pastoral strategies in the fertile crescent during the fourth and third millennia BC. Journal of World Prehistory 27 (1), 43–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-014-9072-2.

Withrow, D./Alter, D. A. (2011). The economic burden of obesity worldwide: a systematic review of the direct costs of obesity. Obesity Reviews 12 (2), 131–141. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2009.00712.x.

Wolin, K. Y./Colangelo, L. A./Chiu, B. C.-H./Gapstur, S. M. (2009). Obesity and immigration among Latina women. Journal of immigrant and minority health 11 (5), 428–431. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-007-9115-1.

Zehetmayer, M. (2013). Health, market integration, and the urban height penalty in the US, 1847‐1894. Cliometrica 7 (2), 161–187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11698-012-0085-8.

Zong, X./Li, H./Zhang, Y.-Q./Wu, H. (2017). Narrowing urban-suburban rural disparities in physical growth among children in China: findings from the 5th national survey in 2015. Annals of human biology 44 (7), 636–641. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2017.1358394.

Downloads

Published

2021-12-22

How to Cite

Kirchengast, S., & Hagmann, D. (2021). "Obesity in the City" – urbanization, health risks and rising obesity rates from the viewpoint of human biology and public health. Human Biology and Public Health, 2. https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v2.11

Issue

Section

Articles