Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the association between active transportation and obesity indicators in adults from eight Latin American countries. Methods: Data from the ELANS study, an observational multi-country study (n: 8336; 18–65 years), were used. Active transportation (walking and cycling) and leisure time physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (long version). The obesity indicators considered were: body mass index, and waist and neck circumference. Results: In the total sample, the average time dedicated to active transportation was 24.3 min/day, with the highest amount of active transportation being Costa Rica (33.5 min/day), and the lowest being Venezuela (15.7 min/day). The countries with the highest proportion of active transportation were Ecuador (71.9%), and the lowest was Venezuela (40.5%). Results from linear regression analyses suggest that active transportation was significantly and independently associated with a lower body mass index (β: −0.033; 95% CI: −0.064; −0.002), but not with waist circumference (β: −0.037; 95% CI: −1.126; 0.390 and neck circumference (β: −0.007; 95% CI: −0.269; 0.130). Conclusions: Active transportation is significantly associated with a lower body mass index. Governments should incentivize this type of transportation as it could help to reduce the obesity pandemic in Latin America.

Background Active transportation is a crucial sort of physical activity for developing sustainable environments and provides essential health benefits. This is particularly important in Latin American countries because they present the highest burden of non-communicable diseases relative to other worldwide regions. This study aimed to examine the patterns of active transportation and its association with sociodemographic inequities in Latin American countries. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in eight countries. Participants (n = 8547, 18–65 years) self-reported their active transportation (walking, cycling, and total) using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Sex, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic level, education level, public and private transport use, and transport mode were used as sociodemographic inequities. Results Participants spent a total of 19.9, 3.1, and 23.3 min/day with walking, cycling, and total active transportation, respectively. Mixed and other ethnicity (Asian, Indigenous, Gypsy, and other), high socioeconomic level as well as middle and high education level presented higher walking than Caucasian, low socioeconomic and education level. Private transport mode and use of ≥ 6 days/week of private transport showed lower walking than public transport mode and ≤ 2 days/week of private transport. Use of ≥ 3 days/week of public transport use presented higher walking than ≤ 2 days/week of public transport. Men had higher cycling for active transportation than women. Use of ≥ 3 days/week of public transport use presented higher cycling than ≤ 2 days/week of public transport. ≥6 days/week showed lower cycling than ≤ 2 days/week of private transport use. Men (b: 5.57: 95 %CI: 3.89;7.26), black (3.77: 0.23;7.31), mixed (3.20: 1.39;5.00) and other ethnicity (7.30: 2.55;12.04), had higher total active transportation than women and Caucasian. Private transport mode (-7.03: -11.65;-2.41) and ≥ 6 days/week of private transport use (-4.80: -6.91;-0.31) showed lower total active transportation than public transport mode and ≤ 2 days/week of private transport use. Use of 3–5 (5.10: 1.35;8.85) and ≥ 6 days/week (8.90: 3.07;14.73) of public transport use presented higher total active transportation than ≤ 2 days/week of public transport use. Differences among countries were observed. Conclusions Sociodemographic inequities are associated differently with active transportation across Latin American countries. Interventions and policies that target the promotion of active policies transportation essential to consider sociodemographic inequities. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.Gov NCT02226627. Retrospectively registered on August 27, 2014.

We estimated the proportion and number of deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCD) attributable to high body mass index (BMI) in Chile in 2018. We used data from 5927 adults from a 2016–2017 Chilean National Health Survey to describe the distribution of BMI. We obtained the number of deaths from NCD from the Ministry of Health. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals per 5 units higher BMI for cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory disease were retrieved from the Global BMI Mortality Collaboration meta-analyses. The prevalences of overweight and obesity were 38.9% and 39.1%, respectively. We estimated that reducing population-wide BMI to a theoretical minimum risk exposure level (mean BMI: 22.0 kg/m2; standard deviation: 1) could prevent approximately 21,977 deaths per year (95%CI 13,981–29,928). These deaths represented about 31.6% of major NCD deaths (20.1–43.1) and 20.4% of all deaths (12.9–27.7) that occurred in 2018. Most of these preventable deaths were from cardiovascular diseases (11,474 deaths; 95% CI 7302–15,621), followed by cancer (5597 deaths; 95% CI 3560–7622) and respiratory disease (4906 deaths; 95% CI 3119–6684). A substantial burden of NCD deaths was attributable to high BMI in Chile. Policies and population-wide interventions are needed to reduce the burden of NCD due to high BMI in Chile.

Background Socio-demographic correlates and human development index (HDI) are associated with self-reported physical activity, but only a few studies have focused on device-measured physical activity and sedentary time in Latin America. We examined the relationship between socio-demographic correlates and HDI with physical activity and sedentary time in a cross-sectional study. Methods We based our analyses on 2522 (53.1% women; 18–65 years [mean age 38.3 years]) adults drawn from the eight Latin America countries. Physical activity (light, moderate, vigorous, and moderate-to-vigorous intensity and steps) and sedentary time were assessed using Actigraph GT3X + accelerometers. Sex, age, and race/ethnicity were self-reported. The HDI country information was obtained from the United Nations Development Program. Results For the age, ethnicity, vigorous physical activity and steps/day, there were significant differences between high and very high HDI countries. Women and younger age presented lower sedentary time than men and older. In moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, we found lower duration in women (-13.4 min/week), younger age (-0.1 min/week), and white/caucasian (-2.7 min/week) than men, older ages and mixed ethnicity. Women (-1266.5 steps/week) and very high HDI (-847.3 steps/week) presented lower steps than men and high HDI. Black (2853.9 steps/week), other (1785.4 steps/week), and white/caucasian ethnicity (660.6 steps/week) showed higher steps than mixed ethnicity. Conclusions Different socio-demographic correlates are associated with physical activity intensity; however, HDI is associated with vigorous physical activity and steps in the Latin American region, which can in turn guide policies to promote physical activity in the region. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.GovNCT02226627. Retrospectively registered on August 27, 2014.