Food environments within and outside of schools play a critical role in curtailing the rise in obesity among school-aged children over time

Sound evidence for effective community-based strategies is needed to curtail upward trends in childhood obesity in the United States. To assess the association between school and community food environments and prevalence of obesity over time. Data were collected from K-12 schools in four low-income New Jersey cities. School-level obesity prevalence, calculated from nurse-measured heights and weights at four time points, was used as the outcome variable. Data on the school food environment measured the healthfulness of school lunch and competitive food offerings annually. The community food environment, i.e., the number of different types of food outlets within 400 meters of schools, was also captured annually. The count and presence of food outlets likely to be frequented by students were calculated. Exposure to composite environment profiles both within schools and in communities around schools was assessed using latent class analysis. Data from 106 schools were analyzed using multilevel linear regression. Prevalence of obesity increased from 25% to 29% over the course of the study. Obesity rates were higher in schools that had nearby access to a greater number of limited-service restaurants and lower in schools with access to small grocery stores and to upgraded convenience stores participating in initiatives to improve healthful offerings. Interaction analysis showed that schools that offered unhealthier competitive foods experienced a faster increase in obesity rates over time. Examining composite food environment exposures, schools with an unhealthy school food environment and high-density community food environment experienced a steeper time trend (β=0.018, p