Abstract
Creating more physical activity-supportive built environments is recommended by the World Health Organization for controlling noncommunicable diseases. The IPEN (International Physical Activity and Environment Network) Adult Study was undertaken to provide international evidence on associations of built environments with physical activity and weight status in 12 countries on 5 continents (n > 14,000). This article presents reanalyzed data from eight primary papers to identify patterns of findings across studies. Neighborhood environment attributes, whether measured objectively or by self-report, were strongly related to all physical activity outcomes (accelerometer-assessed total physical activity, reported walking for transport and leisure) and meaningfully related to overweight/obesity. Multivariable indexes of built environment variables were more strongly related to most outcomes than were single-environment variables. Designing activity-supportive built environments should be a higher international health priority. Results provide evidence in support of global initiatives to increase physical activity and control noncommunicable diseases while achieving sustainable development goals.
Highlights
The United Nations identified noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as threats to international health, quality of life, and economic development [80]
Mixed land use was the only geographic information systems (GIS)-based environment variable found to be unrelated to the examined outcomes
Overweight/obesity showed a stronger association with a GIS-based composite environment index than with single environment variables
Summary
The United Nations identified noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as threats to international health, quality of life, and economic development [80]. With ever-growing evidence of numerous beneficial effects of physical activity on NCDs, brain health, psychological health, and quality of life [55], in combination with the persistently high prevalence of physical inactivity worldwide [41, 63], the pandemic of physical inactivity can be considered one of the major public health challenges of the twenty-first century [47] In the latter decades of the twentieth century, physical activity promotion approaches typically targeted leisure-time activities, were guided by psychologically based theories, and were designed to educate and motivate individuals to apply self-regulation skills to manage their own physical activity [65]. The explicit goal of these collaborations was to generate and transfer knowledge to guide environment and policy interventions in multiple settings across sectors with the potential to permanently increase physical activity in populations worldwide [66, 67]
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