Women who received vouchers that allowed them to live anywhere generally scored the same as the women who were not given vouchers.

The results are complicated by the fact that only about half of the vouchers for moving into low poverty areas were actually used.

In addition, most people in the study ended up moving to better neighborhoods anyway. While the average poverty rate in neighborhoods where the people lived started out at about 53 percent in all three groups, the rates had dropped to 33 percent or below by the 10-year mark.

HUD EXPERIMENT

Ludwig expressed confidence in the results even though measurements of height, weight and diabetes were not done at the start of the study. He said the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) measured 57 other variables and found that the three groups were comparable at the beginning of the study, so it’s logical that obesity and diabetic levels were comparable as well.

And the fact that half the people given the special voucher to move into a low-poverty area didn’t use it was not a problem “because we’ve pooled everyone together” and found a difference even by including those who didn’t move, he said.

“This was an experiment that was not done by HUD to change obesity and diabetes levels. Seventy five percent signed up for reasons of safety; they wanted to get away from the crime,” said Ludwig. “HUD was thinking, ‘We hope this will improve their labor market outcome and get better schools for the kids.’ It turns out the effect on diabetes is the same as the best medical interventions we know of. That seems pretty remarkable.”

Moving to neighborhoods with less poverty could provide easier access to health care and supermarkets with healthy food, relieve everyday stress that can affect eating habits, and make it easier to find a safe place to exercise, he said. “It could be something as simple as decent sidewalks.”

“Given that diabetes and obesity are associated with a large number of health complications and higher cost for medical care, the findings from this study suggest that improving the environments of low-income urban neighborhoods might improve the duration and quality of life for the residents and lower health care expenditures,” co-author Dr. Robert Whitaker of Temple University said in a written statement.

SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine, October 20, 2011.