Abstract
Although it is crucial to examine the environmental correlates of physical activity (PA) for developing more effective interventions for overweight populations, limited studies have investigated differences in the environmental correlates on body mass index (BMI). The purpose of the present study was to examine the perceived environmental correlates of PA among normal-weight and overweight Japanese men. Data were analyzed for 1,420 men (aged 44.4 ± 8.3 years), who responded to an internet-based cross-sectional survey of answering the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and its Environment Module. Binary logistic regression analyses were utilized to examine the environmental factors associated with meeting the PA recommendation (150 minutes/week) between the normal-weight and overweight men. After adjusting for socio-demographic variables, common and different environmental correlates of PA were observed among normal-weight and overweight men. Furthermore, significant interactions regarding PA were observed between BMI status and two environmental correlates: access to public transportation (P = 0.03) and crime safety during the day (P = 0.01). The results indicated that BMI status is a potential moderator between perceived environmental factors and PA and suggested that different environmental intervention approaches should be developed for overweight populations.
Highlights
Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of morbidity from chronic diseases, as well as with higher health-care costs and lower quality of life [1,2,3,4]
The results suggested that increasing the mix of utilitarian destination, supportive environment for seeing people being active, and convenience of accessing recreational facilities could encourage both normal-weight and overweight men to engage in sufficient physical activity (PA) for different purposes
Access to public transport and safety from crime during the day were revealed as different environmental correlates of PA between normal-weight and overweight men based on likelihood ratio tests
Summary
Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of morbidity from chronic diseases, as well as with higher health-care costs and lower quality of life [1,2,3,4]. An increasing prevalence of obesity has been reported in Western countries, and in those countries, the groups with higher risk of obesity varied by age, gender, and race/ethnicity [5,6,7]. Numerous longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have shown that engaging in physical activity (PA) is beneficial for the prevention of obesity and overweight [11,12,13,14,15,16].
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