School of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil.
J Phys Act Health. 2013 May;10(4):563-71. doi: 10.1123/jpah.10.4.563. Epub 2012 Sep 11.
The environment has a great influence on people's lifestyles and their capacity to choose healthy habits. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between perceived environment and physical activity among adults living in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.
This was a cross-sectional population-based study conducted with 890 people age 18 years or over. Physical activity was measured through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ; long version) and perceived environment was evaluated using the Neighborhood Walkability Scale (NEWS) adapted. Poisson's regression was used for statistical analyses and prevalence ratios were calculated. The outcome variable was the attainment of at least 150 minutes per week of physical activities. The independent variables consisted of perceived environment variables and control variables (sex, age, schooling, time living in the home, and number of cars per household).
The perceived environment variables that explained physical activity were: receiving invitations from friends for activities (P = .012), low environmental pollution scores (p trend = 0.030) and high general safety scores (P-trend = 0.039).
These results suggest that physical activity promotion in regions like this should be envisaged as a complex phenomenon and investments in public safety, prevention and combating of environmental pollution and social support networks are needed.
环境对人们的生活方式和选择健康习惯的能力有很大的影响。本研究旨在调查巴西圣保罗市成年人感知环境与身体活动之间的关系。
这是一项横断面基于人群的研究，共纳入 890 名年龄在 18 岁及以上的成年人。身体活动通过国际体力活动问卷（IPAQ；长版）进行测量，感知环境使用经过改编的邻里步行能力量表（NEWS）进行评估。采用泊松回归进行统计分析，并计算患病率比。因变量为每周至少进行 150 分钟的身体活动。自变量包括感知环境变量和控制变量（性别、年龄、教育程度、在家居住时间和每户汽车数量）。
解释身体活动的感知环境变量为：朋友邀请参加活动（P =.012）、环境污染程度低（p 趋势 = 0.030）和一般安全程度高（P-trend = 0.039）。
这些结果表明，在这种地区，应将促进身体活动视为一个复杂的现象，并需要投资于公共安全、环境污染的预防和控制以及社会支持网络。
