Dataset Information

Physical activity-related health and economic benefits of building walkable neighbourhoods: a modelled comparison between brownfield and greenfield developments.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A consensus is emerging in the literature that urban form can impact health by either facilitating or deterring physical activity (PA). However, there is a lack of evidence measuring population health and the economic benefits relating to alternative urban forms. We examined the issue of housing people within two distinct types of urban development forms: a medium-density brownfield development in an established area with existing amenities (e.g. daily living destinations, transit), and a low-density suburban greenfield development. We predicted the health and economic benefits of a brownfield development compared with a greenfield development through their influence on PA.

Methods

We combined a new Walkability Planning Support System (Walkability PSS) with a quantitative health impact assessment model. We used the Walkability PSS to estimate the probability of residents' transport walking, based on their exposure to urban form in the brownfield and greenfield developments. We developed the underlying algorithms of the Walkability PSS using multi-level multivariate logistic regression analysis based on self-reported data for transport walking from the Victorian Integrated Survey of Transport and Activity 2009-10 and objectively measured urban form in the developments. We derived the difference in transport walking minutes per week based on the probability of transport walking in each of the developments and the average transport walking time per week among those who reported any transport walking. We then used the well-established method of the proportional multi-cohort multi-state life table model to translate the difference in transport walking minutes per week into health and economic benefits.

Results

If adult residents living in the greenfield neighbourhood were instead exposed to the urban development form observed in a brownfield neighbourhood, the incidence and mortality of physical inactivity-related chronic diseases would decrease. Over the life course of the exposed population (21,000), we estimated 1600 health-adjusted life years gained and economic benefits of A$94 million.

Discussion

Our findings indicate that planning policies that create walkable neighbourhoods with access to shops, services and public transport will lead to substantial health and economic benefits associated with reduced incidence of physical inactivity related diseases and premature death.

SUBMITTER: Zapata-Diomedi B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6381620 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Physical activity-related health and economic benefits of building walkable neighbourhoods: a modelled comparison between brownfield and greenfield developments.

Zapata-Diomedi Belén B Boulangé Claire C Giles-Corti Billie B Phelan Kath K Washington Simon S Veerman J Lennert JL Gunn Lucy Dubrelle LD

The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity 20190220 1

<h4>Background</h4>A consensus is emerging in the literature that urban form can impact health by either facilitating or deterring physical activity (PA). However, there is a lack of evidence measuring population health and the economic benefits relating to alternative urban forms. We examined the issue of housing people within two distinct types of urban development forms: a medium-density brownfield development in an established area with existing amenities (e.g. daily living destinations, tra ...[more]

PMID: 30782142

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Project description:BackgroundResearch has shown that neighbourhood walkability is associated with small differences in physical activity; however, the health impacts of these small differences have been questioned. We examined the size of the association of walkability with accelerometer-measured physical activity in a large, national-level Canadian population, and compared results to physical activity levels recommended in international guidelines. Our primary objective was to investigate the direction and size of the differences in physical activity that were related to walkability, and whether these differences depended on age.MethodsParticipants were included from among respondents to the 2007-2011 Canadian Health Measures Surveys who lived in urban areas and were aged 6-79 years. The Canadian Health Measures Surveys are ongoing cross-sectional surveys of a Canada-wide population. Respondents were divided into quintiles based on Street Smart Walk Score® values of their census dissemination areas. For all respondents and age subgroups, we used covariate-adjusted generalized linear models to estimate differences between quintiles in accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time.ResultsWe included 7180 respondents. Differences in participant MVPA between highest and lowest Street Smart Walk Score quintiles were 3.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] -3.2 to 9.6) minutes/day for ages 6-11 years, 11.4 (95% CI 5.3 to 17.4) minutes/day for ages 12-17 years, 9.9 (95% CI 2.4 to 17.4) minutes/day for ages 18-29 years, 14.9 (95% CI 10.2 to 19.6) minutes/day for ages 30-44 years, 11.5 (95% CI 6.7 to 16.3) minutes/day for ages 45-64 years and 6.9 (95% CI 3.1 to 10.8) minutes/day for ages 65-79 years. There were no significant differences in sedentary time in any age group.InterpretationIn all groups except the youngest, participants in the most walkable areas did significantly more MVPA than those in the least walkable areas. For several age groups, this difference was approximately one-half to two-thirds of the amount recommended in guidelines for physical activity. Substantially higher MVPA levels suggest that residents of highly walkable areas may have greater health benefits.

Project description:Over one third of Australians' daily energy intake is from discretionary foods and drinks. While many health promotion efforts seek to limit discretionary food intake, the population health impact of reductions in the consumption of different types of discretionary foods (e.g., sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), confectionery, sweet biscuits) has not been quantified. This study estimated the potential reductions in body weight, obesity-related disease incidence, and healthcare cost savings associated with consumption of one less serving per week of different discretionary foods. Reductions in the different types of discretionary food were modelled individually to estimate the impact on energy consumption and population body weight by 5-year age and sex groups. It was assumed that one serving of discretionary food each week was replaced with either a serving of fruit or popcorn, and a serving (375 mL) of SSBs was replaced with coffee, tea, or milk. Proportional multi-state multiple-cohort Markov modelling estimated likely resultant health adjusted life years (HALYs) gained and healthcare costs saved over the lifetime of the 2010 Australian population. A reduction of one serving of SSBs (375 mL) had the greatest potential impact in terms of weight reduction, particularly in ages 19-24 years (mean 0.31 kg, 95% UI: 0.23 kg to 0.37 kg) and overall healthcare cost savings of AUD 793.4 million (95% UI: 589.1 M to 976.1 M). A decrease of one serving of sweet biscuits had the second largest potential impact on weight change overall, with healthcare cost savings of $640.7 M (95% CI: $402.6 M to $885.8 M) and the largest potential weight reduction amongst those aged 75 years and over (mean 0.21 kg, 95% UI: 0.14 kg to 0.27 kg). The results demonstrate that small reductions in discretionary food consumption are likely to have substantial health benefits at the population level. Moreover, the study highlights that policy responses to improve population diets may need to be tailored to target different types of foods for different population groups.

Dataset Information

Physical activity-related health and economic benefits of building walkable neighbourhoods: a modelled comparison between brownfield and greenfield developments.

Background

Methods

Results

Discussion

Publications

Physical activity-related health and economic benefits of building walkable neighbourhoods: a modelled comparison between brownfield and greenfield developments.

Similar Datasets

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