The Demography of Obesity within New York City: An Analysis of the NYC Hanes

Gabriel Movsesyan, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR)

The NHANES dataset is an industry standard for evaluating obesity risk factors demographic analysis. As public health and economic policies are increasingly implemented on local levels by state, city, and regional private agencies, the need for specified local data has grown. The NYC HANES is a landmark effort in this mission, but research using it has been limited to the public health and medical fields. This paper contributes to the literature by analyzing the economic and demographic relationships to obesity within the NYC HANES. I propose an examination of obesity differentials within the NYC HANES across demographic characteristics that are crucial to a better understanding of potential public health measures. I also compare summary statistics across the NYC HANES and NHANES. Finally, linear and nonparametric regression analyses are used to predict potential changes in the next iteration of the NYC HANES, expected in 2013.