Urban area disadvantage and physical activity: a multilevel study in Melbourne, Australia
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Objective: To estimate variation between small areas in the levels of walking, cycling, jogging, and swimming and overall physical activity and the importance of area level socioeconomic disadvantage in predicting physical activity participation. Methods: All census collector districts (CCDs) in the 20 innermost local government areas in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, were identified and ranked by the percentage of low income households (<$400/week) living in the CCD. Fifty CCDs were randomly selected from the least, middle, and most disadvantaged septiles of the ranked CCDs and 2349 residents (58.7% participation rate) participated in a cross sectional postal survey about physical activity. Multilevel logistic regression (adjusted for extrabinomial variation) was used to estimate area level variation in walking, cycling, jogging, and swimming and in overall physical activity participation, and the importance of area level socioeconomic disadvantage in predicting physical activity participation. Results: There were significant variations between CCDs in all activities and in overall physical participation in age and sex adjusted models; however, after adjustment for individual SES (income, occupation, education) and area level socioeconomic disadvantage, significant differences remained only for walking (p = 0.004), cycling (p = 0.003), and swimming (p = 0.024). Living in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas was associated with a decreased likelihood of jogging and of having overall physical activity levels that were sufficiently active for health; these effects remained after adjustment for individual socioeconomic status (sufficiently active: OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.55 to 0.90 and jogging: OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.94). Conclusion: These research findings support the need to focus on improving local environments to increase physical activity participation.
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The sample had physical activity rates comparable to other Australian studies of older adults measured using the AAS.
“and physical activity rates comparable to other Australian studies of older adults measured using the AAS [31-33].”
From A Physical Activity and Diet Program Delivered by Artificially Intelligent Virtual Health Coach: Proof-of-Concept Study (2020) · cites this paper as [33]
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- Authors
- Kavanagh, A. M., Goller, J. L., King, T., Jolley, D., Crawford, D., & Turrell, G.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- La Trobe University (AU)
- Monash University (AU)
- Deakin University (AU)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Kavanagh, Anne M
- Venue
- Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2005-10-18
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 934-940
- ISSN
- 0141-7681 (ISSN-L)
- 0143-005X
- 1470-2738
- PMC
- PMC1732943
- OpenAlex
- W2144919487
- Cited by
- 162
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 40.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Bank (Australian Catholic University) (submittedVersion)
- Own your potential (DEAKIN) (submittedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Urban Transport and Accessibility
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Keywords
- physical activity, socioeconomic deprivation, urban disadvantage, walking, cycling, jogging, swimming, area-level disadvantage, low-income households, built environment, health disparities, Melbourne
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Leisure Activities, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Class, Urban Health, Victoria, Exercise, Small-Area Analysis
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