Department of Public Health Science, Faculty of Landscape and Society, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, PO Box 5003, NO-1432, Ås, Norway.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Feb 6;23(1):259. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15170-4.
Despite the well-known health benefits of regular physical activity, inactivity remains a major public health concern. Understanding how the built environment can encourage physical activity is therefore important to inform current policy strategies for creating activity-friendly neighborhoods. This study aimed to examine whether neighborhood walkability and greenness were associated with physical activity, and if perceived safety moderated any such relations, among adult citizens in Norway.
This cross-sectional study included a sample of 5670 adults aged ≥ 18 years living in urban areas of Stavanger. Information on physical activity (PA) levels, perceived neighborhood safety, and socio-demography were obtained from questionnaire data collected in the Norwegian county public health survey of Rogaland. Geographic information systems were utilized to compute walkability, vegetation scores and proportion of green space within postcode areas, which subsequently were linked to the survey data. Hierarchical linear regression models were fitted to examine associations between walkability, amount of vegetation, proportion of green space and weekly minutes of PA, and to estimate main and interaction effects of perceived safety on these relationships.
The adults were on average physically active 148.3 min/week. The amount of green vegetation in the neighborhood was positively related to physical activity when adjusting for potential confounders. No such relations were observed for proportion of green space and walkability. Perceived neighborhood safety was significantly related to increased levels of physical activity, but no moderating role of perceived safety was observed.
Although our findings should be interpreted with caution, the results point towards the importance of policymakers, planners, and public health professionals to advocate for safe environments with green vegetation for physical activity in the neighborhood.
尽管定期进行身体活动有众所周知的健康益处，但不活动仍然是一个主要的公共卫生关注点。因此，了解建筑环境如何鼓励身体活动对于为创建适宜活动的社区提供当前的政策策略非常重要。本研究旨在检验邻里可步行性和绿化程度与身体活动的关系，以及感知安全性是否调节了这些关系，研究对象为挪威成年居民。
这是一项横断面研究，共纳入了 5670 名居住在斯塔万格城市地区、年龄≥18 岁的成年人。身体活动（PA）水平、感知邻里安全性以及社会人口统计学信息均来自罗加兰县公共卫生调查的挪威县问卷调查数据。地理信息系统用于计算邮编区域内的可步行性、植被得分和绿色空间比例，并将这些数据与调查数据相关联。使用分层线性回归模型检验可步行性、植被数量、绿色空间比例与每周 PA 分钟数之间的关联，并估计感知安全性对这些关系的主要和交互作用。
成年人平均每周进行 148.3 分钟的身体活动。在调整潜在混杂因素后，邻里的绿色植被数量与身体活动呈正相关。而邻里的绿色空间比例和可步行性与身体活动无明显关系。感知邻里安全性与身体活动水平的增加显著相关，但未观察到感知安全性的调节作用。
尽管我们的研究结果应谨慎解释，但结果表明政策制定者、规划者和公共卫生专业人员应倡导在邻里环境中营造安全且有绿色植被的环境，以促进身体活动。
