Quality of green spaces, overweight and physical activity: an epidemiological study in Cordoba using Street View technology

Abstract

There is evidence that access to urban green spaces (UGS) may be a factor in promoting physical activity and influencing nutritional status. However, the quality of UGS is an understudied aspect. The emergence of digital tools that store images of urban environments provides an opportunity to conduct studies on this topic. We aim to analyse the association between obesity and physical activity (PA) levels with a UGS quality score, obtained through remote observation using Google Street View (GSV), in the city of Cordoba, Argentina, 2020-2022.

A population-based observational epidemiological study was carried out (n=1328 adults from the city of Cordoba; multi-stage probability sampling). Anthropometric measurements were taken and a structured food frequency questionnaire and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire were used to collect lifestyle and socio-demographic data. To determine the presence of large-area UGS (≥1 ha), 500 m buffers were established around residences. Remote observation of 226 UGS was conducted with GSV, using an adapted version of the RECITAL tool to calculate quality scores (scored 0-4 on a Likert scale). In a subsample of 636 individuals, multiple logistic regression models were constructed with overweight (BMI≥25, yes/no) and the presence of moderate-high PA (yes/no) as response variables and total quality score as the main covariate, adjusting for sex, age, socioeconomic status (low/medium/high), body mass index, metabolic equivalents (METs).

The total quality score showed a poor average quality (mean=1.29; min-max=0.49-2.25). 60% of the subjects studied had pre-obesity/obesity, and 44.5% had a low PA level. The total quality score of UGS was positively associated with a moderate-high level of PA (OR 2.34; p=0.001), with no significant association with overweight (p=0.254).

In conclusion, it has been demonstrated a general deficiency in the quality of large UGS in Cordoba, and that their overall quality works as a factor in the promotion of PA in adults, based on the use of novel technological tools in the epidemiological field.