Association between neighborhood parks and leisure-time physical activity among adult mexican women

Although an extensive literature in developed countries suggests that elements of the urban built environment stimulate physical activity with beneficial health effects, information about this link in developing countries is still scarce.This study examines whether women's leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) is associated with neighborhood socioeconomic status, presence of public parks, and sociodemographic and health characteristics of women living in a mid-size Mexican city. A multilevel logistic regression analysis was performed to test the association among a sample of adult women (N=1,285) in Hermosillo, Mexico. The analysis links two measures of LTPA to several metrics on park accessibility and neighborhood socioeconomic status. Twenty-two percent of women engaged in neighborhood-based physical activity (NPA), while 29% engaged in overall physical activity (OPA). After adjusting by neighborhood socioeconomic status and individual-level variables, parks density, park-to-people ratio, combined parks' service areas, or distance to the nearest park were not related with NPA and OPA. Neighborhood socioeconomic status was the only contextual variable with a significant influence on women's NPA (AOR 1.05; 95% CI 0.99-1.10) and OPA (AOR=1.06; 95% CI 1.01, 1.12). After controlling for neighborhood-level variables, women's age and education were also statistically associated with physical activity. Based on the indicators used in this study, findings do not support a connection between the presence of parks and women's physical activity in Hermosillo's neighborhoods.