Congratulations to Dr. Kristi Adamo for being recently awarded one of the 2 W. Garfield Weston Foundation Awards for her project, Do built environment neighborhood characteristics predict gestational weight gain? The $18,000 grant will help her and her team with their research project. More details on the project are available below.
Grant/Award: The W. Garfield Weston Foundation Award in Obesity and Reproductive Health. (This project is a collaborative effort between the CHEO RI, the Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) Ontario team.)
PI: Kristi Adamo
Co-Is/Collaborators: Mark Walker, Ann Sprague, Sandra Dunn, Abdool Yaessen (BORN), Michael Sawada (Laboratory for Applied Geomatics and GIS Science), Elizabeth Kristjansson (Institute of Population Health)
Title: Do built environment neighborhood characteristics predict gestational weight gain?
Objective: To determine if there is an independent relationship between characteristics of the built environment and gestational weight gain (GWG). Specifically, do neighborhood characteristics such as the food environment (e.g. access to various food retailers) and the physical activity environment (e.g. access to amenities such as parks and recreational facilities) increase or decrease the likelihood of GWG during pregnancy, independent of individual-level factors?
Summary: Overweight or obese women are 3 times more likely to exceed their IOM recommended gestational weight gain (GWG) guidelines when compared to normal weight mothers which is particularly alarming as exceeding these guidelines is predictive of downstream maternal and childhood obesity. It is well-established that appropriate nutrition and regular physical activity are critical mediators of body composition and insulin sensitivity, and they have been identified as predictors of maternal obesity and excessive GWG. Thus it is suggested that the built environment, which refers to our surrounding physical environment, can also influence our health by either fostering or hindering these healthy lifestyle choices. The proposed research project aims to determine if there is a relationship between GWG and characteristics of the built environment. Specifically, do neighborhood characteristics such as such as the food environment (e.g. access to various food retailers) and the physical activity environment (e.g. access to amenities such as parks and recreational facilities) increase or decrease the likelihood of GWG during pregnancy, independent of individual-level factors? For this project, we will use relevant data from the Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN) Ontario which will subsequently be linked to neighborhood (built environment) characteristics such as percentage of green space or proximity to healthy food sources.