Elsevier

Environmental Research

Volume 160, January 2018, Pages 531-540
Environmental Research

Green space definition affects associations of green space with overweight and physical activity

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.10.027Get rights and content
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open access

Highlights

  • Associations of different green space definitions differ considerably.

  • Distance to park was not associated with being overweight.

  • Surrounding greenness was non-linearly associated with being overweight.

  • Associations were generally non-significant for the more urban population.

Abstract

Introduction

In epidemiological studies, exposure to green space is inconsistently associated with being overweight and physical activity, possibly because studies differ widely in their definition of green space exposure, inclusion of important confounders, study population and data analysis.

Objectives

We evaluated whether the association of green space with being overweight and physical activity depended upon definition of greenspace.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from a Dutch national health survey of 387,195 adults. Distance to the nearest park entrance and surrounding green space, based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) or a detailed Dutch land-use database (TOP10NL), was calculated for each residential address. We used logistic regression analyses to study the association of green space exposure with being overweight and being moderately or vigorously physically active outdoors at least 150 min/week (self-reported). To study the shape of the association, we specified natural splines and quintiles.

Results

The distance to the nearest park entrance was not associated with being overweight or outdoor physical activity. Associations of surrounding green space with being overweight or outdoor physical activity were highly non-linear. For NDVI surrounding greenness, we observed significantly decreased odds of being overweight [300 m buffer, odds ratio (OR) = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.91] and increased odds for outdoor physical activity [300 m buffer, OR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.17] in the highest quintile compared to the lowest quintile. For TOP10NL surrounding green space, associations were mostly non-significant. Associations were generally stronger for subjects living in less urban areas and for the smaller buffers.

Conclusion

Associations of green space with being overweight and outdoor physical activity differed considerably between different green space definitions. Associations were strongest for NDVI surrounding greenness.

Keywords

Green space exposure
Surrounding greenness
Distance to park
Overweight, Physical activity

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