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Pollution, Health, and the Moderating Role of Physical Activity Opportunities.

ABSTRACT: Air and water pollution have detrimental effects on health, while physical activity opportunities have a positive relationship. The purpose of this study was to explore whether physical activity opportunities moderate the relationships among air and water pollution, and measures of health. Aggregate data were collected at the county level in the United States (n = 3104). Variables included the mean daily density of fine particle matter (air pollution), reported cases of health-related drinking water violations (water pollution), subjective ratings of poor or fair health (overall health), the number of physically and mentally unhealthy (physical and mental health, respectively), and the percentage of people living in close proximity to a park or recreation facility (access to physical activity). Air and water pollution have a significant positive effect on all measures of residents' poor health, while physical activity opportunities only have a negative effect on overall health and physical health. Access to physical activity only moderates the relationship between air pollution and all health outcomes. Since physical activity behavior can be more rapidly changed than some causes of pollution, providing the resident population with better access to physical activity can represent an effective tool in environmental health policy.

SUBMITTER: Cunningham GB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7504488 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Pollution, Health, and the Moderating Role of Physical Activity Opportunities.

Cunningham George B GB Wicker Pamela P McCullough Brian P BP

International journal of environmental research and public health 20200828 17

Air and water pollution have detrimental effects on health, while physical activity opportunities have a positive relationship. The purpose of this study was to explore whether physical activity opportunities moderate the relationships among air and water pollution, and measures of health. Aggregate data were collected at the county level in the United States (<i>n</i> = 3104). Variables included the mean daily density of fine particle matter (air pollution), reported cases of health-related dri ...[more]

PMID: 32872245

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Project description:BackgroundBetter physical functioning in the elderly may be associated with higher physical activity levels. Since older adults spend a substantial part of the day in their residential neighborhood, the neighborhood physical environment may moderate associations between functioning and older adults' physical activity. The present study investigated the moderating role of the objective and perceived physical environment on associations between Belgian older adults' physical functioning and transport walking, recreational walking, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.MethodsData from 438 older adults were included. Objective physical functioning was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery. Potential moderators included objective neighborhood walkability and perceptions of land use mix diversity, access to recreational facilities, access to services, street connectivity, physical barriers for walking, aesthetics, crime-related safety, traffic speeding-related safety, and walking infrastructure. Transport and recreational walking were self-reported, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed through accelerometers. Multi-level regression analyses were conducted using MLwiN to examine two-way interactions between functioning and the environment on both walking outcomes. Based on a previous study where environment x neighborhood income associations were found for Belgian older adults' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, three-way functioning x environment x income interactions were examined for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.ResultsObjectively-measured walkability moderated the association between functioning and transport walking; this positive association was only present in high-walkable neighborhoods. Moreover, a three-way interaction was observed for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Only in high-income, high-walkable neighborhoods, there was a positive association between functioning and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. No functioning x walkability interactions were observed for recreational walking, and none of the perceived environmental variables moderated the positive association between physical functioning and the physical activity outcomes.ConclusionsFor older adults with better physical functioning, living in a high-walkable neighborhood could be beneficial to engage in more transport walking. Living in high-income, high-walkable neighborhoods and having better functioning might also be beneficial for more engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. This might suggest a protective role of neighborhood walkability for preventing declining physical functioning and consequently decreasing physical activity levels in older adults. However, given the cross-sectional design of the present study, this suggestion needs to be confirmed through longitudinal assessment investigating over-time changes in the observed associations.

Project description:Physical activity may play a role in promoting or preventing substance use among youth. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between different types of physical activity [i.e., non-competitive school sport, competitive school sport, outside of school sport and minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day] and substance use (i.e., current smoking, e-cigarette, cannabis, binge drinking) among Canadian youth. Interaction effects between physical activity and school connectedness were also examined. Using data from the COMPASS study (2018-19; n = 73,672), four multi-level logistic regression models were developed to investigate whether physical activity lessened or worsened the odds of (1) smoking; (2) e-cigarette use; (3) cannabis use; and (4) binge drinking. Models were stratified by gender to reflect the inherent differences between genders. Models were adjusted for demographic factors and other covariates. Sport participation was consistently associated with substance use, whereas less evidence was found for meeting MVPA guidelines. Non-competitive school sport lessened the odds of cannabis use for males and females. However, non-competitive school sport only lessened the odds of e-cigarette use for females but increased the odds of binge drinking for males. Participation in competitive school sport lessened the odds of cigarette smoking but increased the odds of e-cigarette use and binge drinking for males and females. Outside of school sport lessened the odds of cigarette smoking and cannabis use but increased the odds of e-cigarette use and binge drinking for males and females. A significant moderation effect was found for males participating in sport outside of school and meeting MVPA guidelines who were at a lower risk of e-cigarette use in the presence of high levels of school connectedness. Our study provides evidence for further consideration and provision of extracurricular activities, specifically non-competitive sport, in protecting against substance use. Caution is required in claiming that sport participation or physical activity, in general, is negatively associated with substance use among youth.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:Type D personality is associated with psychological and physical ill-health. However, there has been limited investigation of the role of Type D personality in interventions designed to enhance well-being. This study investigated associations between Type D personality and the efficacy of positive emotional writing for reducing stress, anxiety, and physical symptoms. DESIGN:A between-subjects longitudinal design was employed. METHOD:Participants (N = 71, Mage = 28.2, SDage = 12.4) completed self-report measures of Type D personality, physical symptoms, perceived stress, and trait anxiety, before completing either (1) positive emotional writing or (2) a non-emotive control writing task, for 20 min per day over three consecutive days. State anxiety was measured immediately before and after each writing session, and self-report questionnaires were again administered 4 weeks post-writing. RESULTS:Participants in the positive emotional writing condition showed significantly greater reductions in (1) state anxiety and (2) both trait anxiety and perceived stress over the 4-week follow-up period, compared to the control group. While these effects were not moderated by Type D personality, a decrease in trait anxiety was particularly evident in participants who reported both high levels of social inhibition and low negative affectivity. Linguistic analysis of the writing diaries showed that Type D personality was positively associated with swear word use, but not any other linguistic categories. CONCLUSION:These findings support the efficacy of positive emotional writing for alleviating stress and anxiety, but not perceived physical symptoms. Swearing may be a coping strategy employed by high Type D individuals. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Type D (distressed) personality is characterized by high levels of both negative affectivity and social inhibition, and has been associated with adverse physical and psychological health. Positive emotional writing is known to reduce subjectively reported physical symptoms and increase positive affect. What does this study add? Positive emotional writing was shown to attenuate (1) state anxiety immediately post-writing, and (2) trait anxiety and perceived stress 4 weeks post-writing. The findings demonstrate that positive writing might be a useful intervention for attenuating the adverse psychological effects of Type D personality in the general population. Type D personality was associated with more frequent use of swear words, which may be a coping mechanism used by high Type D individuals.

Project description:BackgroundThe transition to retirement introduces a decline in total physical activity and an increase in TV viewing time. Nonetheless, as more time becomes available, early retirement is an ideal stage to implement health interventions. Therefore, knowledge on specific determinants of physical activity and sedentary time is needed. Former work-related physical activity has been proposed as a potential determinant, but concrete evidence is lacking. The aim of this study was to examine if former work-related sitting, standing, walking or vigorous activities predict physical activity and sedentary time during early retirement. Additionally, moderating effects of educational level and physical functioning were examined.MethodsIn total, 392 recently retired Belgian adults (>6 months, <5 years) completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the SF-36 Health Survey and a questionnaire on sociodemographics and former work-related activities. Generalized linear regression analyses were conducted in R. Moderating effects were examined by adding cross-products to the models.ResultsMore former work-related sitting was predictive of more screen time during retirement. Lower levels of former work-related vigorous activities and higher levels of former work-related walking were associated with respectively more cycling for transport and more walking for transport during retirement. None of the predictors significantly explained passive transportation, cycling and walking for recreation, and leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during retirement. Several moderating effects were found, but the direction of the interactions was not univocal.ConclusionsFormer-work related behaviors are of limited importance to explain physical activity during early retirement, so future studies should focus on other individual, social and environmental determinants. Nonetheless, adults who previously had a sedentary job had higher levels of screen time during retirement, so this is an important subgroup to focus on during interventions. Because of the inconsistent moderating effects of educational level and physical functioning, no clear recommendations can be formulated.

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Pollution, Health, and the Moderating Role of Physical Activity Opportunities.

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Pollution, Health, and the Moderating Role of Physical Activity Opportunities.

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