The Importance of Pedestrian Network Connectivity for Adolescent Health: A Cross-sectional Examination of Associations Between Neighbourhood Built Environments and Metabolic Health in the Pacific Islands Families Birth Cohort Study

Date
Authors
Smith, M
Obolonkin, V
Plank, L
Iusitini, L
Forsyth, E
Stewart, T
Paterson, J
Tautolo, E-S
Savila, F
Rush, E
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
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Publisher
MDPI AG
Abstract

The research aim was to investigate associations between objectively-assessed built environment attributes and metabolic risk in adolescents of Pacific Islands ethnicity, and to consider the possible mediating effect of physical activity and sedentary time. Youth (n = 204) undertook a suite of physical assessments including body composition, blood sampling, and blood pressure measurements, and seven day accelerometry. Objective measures of the neighbourhood built environment were generated around individual addresses. Logistic regression and linear modelling were used to assess associations between environment measures and metabolic health, accounting for physical activity behaviours. Higher pedestrian connectivity was associated with an increase in the chance of having any International Diabetes Federation metabolic risk factors for males only. Pedestrian connectivity was related to fat free mass in males in unadjusted analyses only. This study provides evidence for the importance of pedestrian network connectivity for health in adolescent males. Future research is required to expand the limited evidence in neighbourhood environments and adolescent metabolic health.

Description
Keywords
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; Diabetes; Body composition; Fat free mass
Source
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2019, 16(18), 3375; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183375
Rights statement
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).