Gentrification and childhood obesity: Evidence from New York City public school students in public housing

Objective: The study objective was to determine the effect of gentrification on the weight outcomes of New York City public school students living in public housing.Methods: In a prospective cohort of 19,022 New York City public school students in public housing followed during 2009-2017, weight outcomes of students living in public housing buildings in gentrified neighborhoods were compared to those living in consistently low-socioeconomic-status neighborhoods; assignment was quasi-random in each borough.Results: Among the 42,182 student-year observations, gentrification did not increase weight outcomes significantly, for BMI z scores (0.037; 95% CI: -0.012 to 0.086), obesity (0.6 percentage points [pp]; 95% CI: -0.9 to 2.1), or overweight (1.3 pp; 95% CI: -0.7 to 3.2). However, heterogeneous effects by borough were found, where the gentrification in Manhattan increased students' BMI z scores by 0.19 (95% CI: 0.09-0.29), obesity by 3.4 pp (95% CI: 0.03-6.5), and overweight by 9.2 pp (95% CI: 6.3-12.1). No heterogeneity by race and ethnicity, gender, or age was found.Conclusions: With strong internal validity, this study shows that neighborhood gentrification differentially influenced children's health through obesity, based on borough of residence. Such findings could inform policies or interventions focused on subpopulations and geographies.

Automated summary

This study finds that gentrification does not significantly affect the weight outcomes of New York City public school students living in public housing, except in Manhattan where it is associated with increased BMI z scores, obesity, and overweight. The findings suggest the need for targeted policies and interventions based on specific subpopulations and geographic areas.