Analysis of the Impacts of Neighborhood Environment on Physical Activity and Health Status in Seoul, Korea - Application of Multilevel Analysis with the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2012)

How Does the Built Environment in Compact Metropolitan Cities Affect Health? A Systematic Review of Korean Studies

“…The health-related behaviors included moderate or high intensity physical activity, walking, sedentary behavior, and dietary behavior, with walking being the most common [29,32,38,40,41,45,46]. Obesity, allergic disease, and mortality were associated with the BE, and several studies reported a correlation between obesity and the BE [26,27,28,35,40,44,48]. Body mass index (BMI) was measured in all studies examining obesity; most studies used the WHO Asia-Pacific regional obesity criteria (BMI ≥ 25).…”

“…Mixed land use had an inconsistent association with physical health (Figure 2); five out of nine (56%) studies indicated that mixed land use for residential, commercial, and work purposes had a positive effect on physical activity promotion by inducing walking for the purposes of leisure and travel [28,38,40,46,48]. However, air pollution was higher in areas with high ratios of mixed land use, thus increasing the risk of asthma for residents [47].…”

“…Transportation infrastructure had a positively consistent association with physical health (9/12 = 75%, Figure 4). The higher density and larger number of public transportation facilities, longer length of bicycle roads, and shorter distance from public transportation facilities were correlated with increased moderate or vigorous physical activity and walking, and reduced obesity [26,27,33,38,40,48,50]. In the current review, the average density of public transportation facilities that induce walking was 19.64/km 2 , and the average distance between them was 0.24 km.…”

“…The higher ratio of parks and green areas in the urban community was correlated with increased physical activity in parks and reduced obesity [26,27,31,36,40,48]. The shorter distance from residences to parks and green areas and higher accessibility to park were correlated with increased physical activity of local residents [28,48,50]. However, the criteria for buffers when measuring the accessibility of parks from residential areas varied across studies.…”

“…Neighborhood facilities had an inconsistent association with physical health (7/10 = 70%, Figure 6). The higher density, shorter distance, and larger number of neighborhood facilities, such as welfare centers, schools, restaurants, stores, hospitals, and surveillance, were correlated with increased walking, and reduced obesity and sedentary behaviors [29,40,48,50]. Furthermore, the safety, accessibility, and aesthetics of the neighborhood facilities were correlated with increased moderate or vigorous physical activity, walking, and perceived health status [24,29,39,41,50].…”