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a Department of Pediatrics, Childrens Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois
b Mary Ann and J. Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program, Childrens Memorial Research Center, Chicago, Illinois
c Department of Pediatrics and the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
OBJECTIVES. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine fast food restaurant prevalence in hospitals with pediatric residencies and (2) to evaluate how hospital environment affects purchase and perception of fast food.
METHODS. We first surveyed pediatric residency programs regarding fast food restaurants in their hospitals to determine the prevalence of fast food restaurants in these hospitals. We then surveyed adults with children after pediatric outpatient visits at 3 hospitals: hospital M with an on-site McDonalds restaurant, hospital R without McDonalds on site but with McDonalds branding, and hospital X with neither on-site McDonalds nor branding. We sought to determine attitudes toward, consumption of, and influences on purchase of fast food and McDonalds food.
RESULTS. Fifty-nine of 200 hospitals with pediatric residencies had fast food restaurants. A total of 386 outpatient surveys were analyzed. Fast food consumption on the survey day was most common among hospital M respondents (56%; hospital R: 29%; hospital X: 33%), as was the purchase of McDonalds food (hospital M: 53%; hospital R: 14%; hospital X: 22%). McDonalds accounted for 95% of fast food consumed by hospital M respondents, and 83% of them bought their food at the on-site McDonalds. Using logistic regression analysis, hospital M respondents were 4 times more likely than respondents at the other hospitals to have purchased McDonalds food on the survey day. Visitors to hospitals M and R were more likely than those at hospital X to believe that McDonalds supported the hospital financially. Respondents at hospital M rated McDonalds food healthier than did respondents at the other hospitals.
CONCLUSIONS. Fast food restaurants are fairly common in hospitals that sponsor pediatric residency programs. A McDonalds restaurant in a childrens hospital was associated with significantly increased purchase of McDonalds food by outpatients, belief that the McDonalds Corporation supported the hospital financially, and higher rating of the healthiness of McDonalds food.
Key Words: fast food nutrition childrens hospitals marketing
Abbreviations: AORadjusted odds ratio CIconfidence interval
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M. Berman and R. Lavizzo-Mourey Obesity Prevention in the Information Age: Caloric Information at the Point of Purchase JAMA, July 23, 2008; 300(4): 433 - 435. [Full Text] [PDF] |
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