The association between Geographic Information System-based neighborhood built environmental factors and accelerometer-derived light-intensity physical activity across the lifespan: a cross-sectional study

PeerJ

article

Sofie Compernolle¹  Lieze Mertens¹  Jelle Van Cauwenberg²  Iris Maes¹  Delfien Van Dyck¹ 

[1] Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University;Research Foundation Flanders;Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University

关键词: Physical environment;    Physical activity;    Built environment;    Residential density;    Light physical activity;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.13271

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEvidence on associations between environmental factors and accelerometer-derived light-intensity physical activity (LPA) is scarce. The aim of this study was to examine associations between Geographic Information System (GIS)-based neighborhood built environmental factors and accelerometer-derived LPA, and to investigate the moderating effect of age group (adolescents, adults, older adults) on these associations.MethodsObjective data were used from three similar observational studies conducted in Ghent (Belgium) between 2007 and 2015. Accelerometer data were collected from 1,652 participants during seven consecutive days, and GIS-based neighborhood built environmental factors (residential density, intersection density, park density, public transport density, entropy index) were calculated using sausage buffers of 500 m and 1,000 m around the home addresses of all participants. Linear mixed models were performed to estimate the associations.ResultsA small but significant negative association was observed between residential density (500 m buffer) and LPA in the total sample (B = −0.002; SE = 0.0001; p = 0.04), demonstrating that every increase of 1,000 dwellings per surface buffer was associated with a two minute decrease in LPA. Intersection density, park density, public transport density and entropy index were not related to LPA, and moderating effects of age group were absent.ConclusionsThe small association, in combination with other non-significant associations suggests that the neighborhood built environment, as classically measured in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity research, is of limited importance for LPA. More research is needed to unravel how accelerometer-derived LPA is accumulated, and to gain insight into its determinants.

【 授权许可】

CC BY