Living and working close to sports facilities and physical inactivity and obesity: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The majority of previous studies on the associations between proximity of physical activity facilities and behavior-related health have focused on proximity from home address, while studies on proximity from work address are scarce. We add to the literature by investigating associations for proximity of these facilities to work and home address and including different types of physical activity facilities. Methods: Aim was to assess the associations of proximity of physical activity facilities from home and work address with self-reported physical inactivity and obesity. The analytical sample of 7358 participants was from the 2018 wave of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health. Log-binomial regression was used for analyses. Covariates included age, sex, education, civil status, individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status, number of children under 12 years of age, work strain, and chronic disease. Results: We observed that longer distance from home to the nearest paid outdoor physical activity facility was associated with physical inactivity (fully adjusted Relative Risk 1.08, 95% CI 1.00-1.16). However, associations of any, free outdoor or paid indoor facility with physical inactivity were not robust for covariate adjustments. There were associations between long distance from workplace to the nearest any, outdoor, free outdoor and paid outdoor facility and physical inactivity in age and sex adjusted models, however, associations were not robust to full adjustments. Results for obesity were in the same direction as for physical inactivity, however, these were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Proximity Longer distance to paid outdoor physical activity facility from home was associated with physical inactivity. There was an indication that proximity to work address could be an additional determinant of physical activity behavior and obesity, however, longitudinal and larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.