Association between leisure-time physical activity and the built environment in China: Empirical evidence from an accelerometer and GPS-based fitness app

Chen, Long and Zhang, Zhaoxi and Long, Ying and Fu, Shihe (2021) Association between leisure-time physical activity and the built environment in China: Empirical evidence from an accelerometer and GPS-based fitness app. PLOS ONE, 16 (12). e0260570. ISSN 1932-6203

[thumbnail of journal.pone.0260570.pdf] Text
journal.pone.0260570.pdf - Published Version

Download (747kB)

Abstract

To reexamine the relationship between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and the built environment (BE), this paper takes advantage of the massive amount of data collected by an accelerometer and GPS-based fitness mobile app. Massive LTPA data from more than 3 million users were recorded by Codoon in 500m by 500m grid cells and aggregated to 742 natural cities in mainland China. Six BE indicators were quantified using GIS at the city scale. Robust regression analysis was used to estimate the correlation between LTPA and BE. Five of six BE indicators—connectivity, road density, land use mix, points of interest density, and density of parks and squares—were significantly, positively, independently, and linearly related to LTPA in the regression analysis. The study obtains findings that are consistent with the previous literature but also provides novel insights into the important role of POI density in encouraging LTPA, as well as how the relationship between LTPA and BE varies by time of day. The study also sheds light on the embrace of new technology and new data in public health and urban studies.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Science Repository > Medical Science
Depositing User: Managing Editor
Date Deposited: 01 Feb 2023 06:12
Last Modified: 25 Jul 2024 07:12
URI: http://research.manuscritpub.com/id/eprint/1074

Actions (login required)

View Item
View Item