Neighborhood Environment and Physical Activity Behaviors among Chinese Adults in Hong Kong

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate the association of objectively-assessed physical environment with physical activity behaviors measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) - short form for Chinese adults in Hong Kong. METHODS: A total of 1,075 adults (261 men and 814 women) were recruited. Their physical activity behaviors, i.e., walking, moderate (MPA), and vigorous physical activity (VPA), were self-reported by using the IPAQ short form. Physical environment in the neighborhood within an 800 meter crow-fl y radius of each participant’s residential address was assessed by Geographic Information System (GIS). These variables included nearest distance (both crow-fl y and network) to parks and recreational destinations, street intersections density, road length, and percent of bicycle track area. Social-demographic variables (gender, age, and educational attainment) were also self-reported. Area-level socio-economic status (SES) was determined by the median household income. The associations of physical environment variables with the three PA variables were determined by using linear mixed models, adjusting for socio-demographic variables and area-level SES. The three PA variables were square root transformed prior to regression analyses. RESULTS: Men self-reported two times greater in MET-minutes/week of VPA, but less MET-minutes/week of walking, than women. Educational attainment was negatively associated with the three PA variables. Signifi cant interaction effects of gender were found. After controlling for socio-demographic variables and area-level SES, nearest crow-fl y distance to a park area was positively associated with METminutes/ week of MPA only for men (β=0.50, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.79). For women, nearest crow-fl y distance to recreational destinations is negatively related to MET-minutes/ week of walking (β=-0.71, 95% CI: -1.32, -0.09). No environmental attributes were found to be associated with VPA. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the relationship between neighborhood environmental attributes and PA differed by gender and PA domains. Development of PA promotion strategies and policy within the context of Hong Kong should target people with low educational attainment and be gender-specifi c.