Physical Activity Environment and Japanese Adults’ Body Mass Index

Mohammad Javad Koohsari, Andrew T. Kaczynski, Tomoya Hanibuchi, Ai Shibata, Kaori Ishii, Akitomo Yasunaga, Tomoki Nakaya and Koichiro Oka
Additional contact information
Mohammad Javad Koohsari: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama 359-1192, Japan
Andrew T. Kaczynski: Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29229, USA
Tomoya Hanibuchi: School of International Liberal Studies, Chukyo University, Nagoya 466-8666, Japan
Ai Shibata: Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8574, Japan
Kaori Ishii: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama 359-1192, Japan
Akitomo Yasunaga: Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Bunka Gakuen University, Tokyo 151-8523, Japan
Tomoki Nakaya: Department of Geography and Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto 603-8577, Japan
Koichiro Oka: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Saitama 359-1192, Japan

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: Evidence about the impacts of the physical activity environment on adults’ weight in the context of Asian countries is scarce. Likewise, no study exists in Asia examining whether Walk Score ® —a free online walkability tool—is related to obesity. This study aimed to examine associations between multiple physical activity environment measures and Walk Score ® ratings with Japanese adults’ body mass index (BMI). Data from 1073 adults in the Healthy Built Environment in Japan study were used. In 2011, participants reported their height and weight. Environmental attributes, including population density, intersection density, density of physical activity facilities, access to public transportation, and availability of sidewalks, were calculated using Geographic Information Systems. Walk Scores ® ratings were obtained from the website. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to examine the association between each environmental attribute and BMI. Adjusting for covariates, all physical activity environmental attributes were negatively associated with BMI. Similarly, an increase of one standard deviation of Walk Score ® was associated with a 0.29 (95% confidence interval (CI) of −0.49–−0.09) decrease in BMI. An activity-friendly built environment was associated with lower adults’ BMI in Japan. Investing in healthy community design may positively impact weight status in non-Western contexts.

Keywords: urban design; neighbourhood; weight; Asia; active behaviour; urban form (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/596/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/596/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:4:p:596-:d:138086

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().