Perceived neighbourhood environment and non-exercise physical activity in adolescents

Abstract

Non-exercise physical activity (NEPA) is an important component of energy expenditure, but little is known about its associations with the perceived neighbourhood environment in adolescents.We investigated these associations in the HKSOS project 2006–07. We included 33692 Chinese students from 42 randomly selected secondary schools (44.9% boys; mean age 14.8, SD 1.9 years). NEPA referred to mild unstructured physical activities such as walking and moving around, and was analysed as an outcome of 30+ minutes (after school and during weekend) vs <30 minutes per day. Specific neighbourhood facilities (n = 19) within 5 minutes of walk from home that were significantly associated with NEPA were grouped by type as binary variables (presence vs absence): services (library, youth centre), eating places (restaurant, convenience store), sports (7 items, e.g. sports centre), tram/bus stops (including minibus), railway stations (excluding light and underground railways), and entertainments (3 items, e.g. game centre). Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for facilities mutually, potential confounders and school clustering. The above types of facilities were commonly reported: services (46.0%), restaurants (69.0%), sports (81.0), tram/bus stops (79.0%), railway stations (20.4%), and entertainments (40.2%). NEPA was associated positively with facilities of services (adjusted odds ratio 1.09, 95% CI 0.99–1.20), sports (1.62, 1.45–1.81), railway stations (1.08, 0.95–1.22), and entertainments (1.23, 1.11–1.36), but negatively with eating places (0.74, 0.66–0.84) and tram/bus stops (0.80, 0.68–0.93). Neighbourhood sports and entertainment facilities may encourage adolescent use, resulting in higher NEPA, but the convenience of eating places and tram/bus stops nearby may lower the need for NEPA.