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. 2014 May:27:162-70.
doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.02.003. Epub 2014 Mar 7.

Effects of buffer size and shape on associations between the built environment and energy balance

Peter James  1 , David Berrigan  2 , Jaime E Hart  3 , J Aaron Hipp  4 , Christine M Hoehner  5 , Jacqueline Kerr  6 , Jacqueline M Major  7 , Masayoshi Oka  8 , Francine Laden  9
Affiliations

Effects of buffer size and shape on associations between the built environment and energy balance

Peter James et al. Health Place. 2014 May.

Abstract

Uncertainty in the relevant spatial context may drive heterogeneity in findings on the built environment and energy balance. To estimate the effect of this uncertainty, we conducted a sensitivity analysis defining intersection and business densities and counts within different buffer sizes and shapes on associations with self-reported walking and body mass index. Linear regression results indicated that the scale and shape of buffers influenced study results and may partly explain the inconsistent findings in the built environment and energy balance literature.

Keywords: Body mass index; Built environment; Geographic information systems; Spatial uncertainty; Walking.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example of a Radial Buffer and Line-based Buffer with Business Addresses
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of Log-transformed Built Environment Measures. Boxes represent the interquartile range and whiskers represent range of values
Figure 3
Figure 3
Coefficients and 95% Confidence Intervals for Effect of Built Environment Measures on Walking. Triangles represent line based buffers and circles are radial buffers.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Coefficients and 95% Confidence Intervals for Effect of Built Environment Measures on BMI. Triangles represent line based buffers and circles are radial buffers. Note: Y-axis varies across panels
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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