Characterising urban green space density and footpath-accessibility in models of BMI.
BMC Public Health
; 20(1): 760, 2020 May 24.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32448211
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
While exposure to urban green spaces has been associated with various physical health benefits, the evidence linking these spaces to lower BMI, particularly among older people, is mixed. We ask whether footpath availability, generally unobserved in the existing literature, may mediate exposure to urban green space and help explain this volatility in results. The aim of this study is to add to the literature on the association between urban green space and BMI by considering alternative measures of urban green space that incorporate measures of footpath availability.METHODS:
We conduct a cross-sectional study combining data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing and detailed land use information. We proxy respondents' exposure to urban green spaces at their residential addresses using street-side and area buffers that take account of the presence of footpaths. Generalised linear models are used to test the association between exposure to several measures of urban green space and BMI.RESULTS:
Relative to the third quintile, exposure to the lowest quintile of urban green space, as measured within a 1600 m footpath-accessible network buffer, is associated with slightly higher BMI (marginal effect 0.80; 95% CI 0.16-1.44). The results, however, are not robust to small changes in how green space is measured and no statistically significant association between urban green spaces and BMI is found under other variants of our regression model.CONCLUSION:
The relationship between urban green spaces and BMI among older adults is highly sensitive to the characterisation of local green space. Our results suggest that there are some unobserved factors other than footpath availability that mediate the relationship between urban green spaces and weight status.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Urban Population
/
Body Mass Index
/
Residence Characteristics
/
Walking
/
Environment Design
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
BMC Public Health
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ireland