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. 2016 Oct 14;11(10):e0164812.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164812. eCollection 2016.

Physical Environmental Correlates of Domain-Specific Sedentary Behaviours across Five European Regions (the SPOTLIGHT Project)

Sofie Compernolle  1 , Katrien De Cocker  1   2 , Célina Roda  3 , Jean-Michel Oppert  3   4 , Joreintje D Mackenbach  5 , Jeroen Lakerveld  5 , Ketevan Glonti  6 , Helga Bardos  7 , Harry Rutter  6 , Greet Cardon  1 , Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij  1 ; WP3 SPOTLIGHT group
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Physical Environmental Correlates of Domain-Specific Sedentary Behaviours across Five European Regions (the SPOTLIGHT Project)

Sofie Compernolle et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The relation between neighbourhood environmental factors and domain-specific sedentary behaviours among adults remains unclear. This study firstly aims to examine the association of perceived and objectively measured neighbourhood safety, aesthetics, destinations and functionality with transport-related, work-related and leisure-time sedentary behaviour. Secondly, the study aims to assess whether these associations are moderated by age, gender or educational level.

Methods: In 60 randomly sampled neighbourhoods from 5 urban regions in Europe (Ghent and suburbs, Paris and inner suburbs, Budapest and suburbs, the Randstad, and Greater London), a virtual audit with Google Street View was performed to assess environmental characteristics. A total of 5,205 adult inhabitants of these neighbourhoods reported socio-demographic characteristics, sedentary behaviours, and neighbourhood perceptions in an online survey. Generalized linear mixed models were conducted to examine associations between physical environmental neighbourhood factors and sedentary behaviours. Interaction terms were added to test the moderating role of individual-level socio-demographic variables.

Results: Lower levels of leisure-time sedentary behaviour (i.e. all leisure activities except television viewing and computer use) were observed among adults who perceived greater numbers of destinations such as supermarkets, recreational facilities, or restaurants in their neighbourhood, and among adults who lived in a neighbourhood with more objectively measured aesthetic features, such as trees, water areas or public parks. Lower levels of work-related sedentary behaviour were observed among adults who perceived less aesthetic features in their neighbourhood, and among adults who lived in a neighbourhood with less objectively measured destinations. Both age, gender and educational level moderated the associations between neighbourhood environmental factors and sedentary behaviours.

Conclusion: Preliminary evidence was found for associations between neighbourhood environmental factors and domain-specific sedentary behaviours among adults. However, these associations varied according to objective or subjective environmental measures. More research is needed to confirm and clarify the associations.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Seventh Framework Programme (CORDIS FP7) of the European Commission, HEALTH (FP7-HEALTH-2011-two-stage) [278186]. The content of this article reflects only the authors' views and the European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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