Abstract
Background A cross-sectional study using a convenience sampling method was conducted to understand how green space and accessibility of common public open spaces in compact urban areas affect physical activity and healthy diets of residents. Methods A total of 554 residents completed a structured questionnaire on quality of life, physical activity level and healthy eating practice. Particularly, categories of physical activity and durations were obtained by using the short form Chinese International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-C), then the Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET)-minutes/week was calculated using the formulae (walking minutes × walking days × 3.3) + (moderate-intensity activity minutes × moderate days × 4.0) + (vigorous-intensity activity minutes × vigorous-intensity days × 8.0). The percentage of green space was calculated based on a spatial buffer with a 500 m radius from participants’ geocoded addresses using a SPOT (‘Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre’ in French) satellite image-derived vegetation dataset. Parks, promenade and sports facilities were examples of open spaces. Results The sampled population who lived with green space averaged 10.11% ± 7.95% (ranged 1.56–32.90%), with the majority (90%) performing physical activities at medium and high levels. MET-minutes/week was significantly associated (Pearson r = 0.092; p < 0.05) with the green space percentage. Relatively active residents commonly used open spaces within the district for performing exercise, in particular, parks and promenades were mostly used by older residents, while sports facilities by the younger groups at age 25–44 and <25 years. Conclusions Current findings suggested promotion of exercise could be achieved by the design or redesign of built environment to include more parks accessible to the residents with the increase of vegetation.
Highlights
Physical activity and healthy eating are the two important aspects of a healthy lifestyle [1,2,3].A sedentary life together with excess energy intake leads to the consequence of obesity, the major risk factor for mortality and many chronic problems including cardiovascular diseases [4,5], diabetes [6,7] and cancers [8,9]
Results of this study indicated that around 60% of the studied population had sometimes or always participated in healthy eating with low fat, low sodium and low sugar, while 62.9% performed moderate physical activity regularly [33]
The mean green space within a 500 m radius of participants’ residential addresses was 10.11% (SD = 7.95%), and many of the socio-demographic variables and WHOQoL scores were significantly different between the discrete subgroup levels of green space (Table 1)
Summary
Physical activity and healthy eating are the two important aspects of a healthy lifestyle [1,2,3].A sedentary life together with excess energy intake leads to the consequence of obesity, the major risk factor for mortality and many chronic problems including cardiovascular diseases [4,5], diabetes [6,7] and cancers [8,9]. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended at least 150 min of aerobic physical activity at moderate-intensity, corresponding to 3–6 Metabolic Equivalents of Task (METs) per week for adults at age between 18 and 64 years, in order to improve cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, bone health, reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases and depression [10]. More than half of the local population were reported to have no leisure time of physical activity over a 10-year period while 20.6% of all-cause deaths were attributable to not exercising [13]. A cross-sectional study using a convenience sampling method was conducted to understand how green space and accessibility of common public open spaces in compact urban areas affect physical activity and healthy diets of residents. Methods A total of 554 residents completed a structured questionnaire on quality of life, physical activity level and healthy eating practice. Promenade and sports facilities were examples of open spaces
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