More sprawl means more weight and less walking
Residents of sprawling counties weigh more, walk less in their leisure time and have higher rates of high blood pressure compared with those in more “compact” counties, a new study finds. Reid Ewing, Ph.D., of the National Center for Smart Growth and colleagues say more evidence is needed to pinpoint sprawl as the direct cause of these poor health outcomes. But their findings, appearing in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, suggest a significant association between the form of an urban environment and certain health conditions and behaviors.