Active Transportation and Obesity Indicators in Adults from Latin America: ELANS Multi-Country Study

Habinger, Juan Guzmán; Chávez, Javiera Lobos; Matsudo, Sandra Mahecha; Kovalskys, Irina; Gómez, Georgina; Rigotti, Attilio; Sanabria, Lilia Yadira Cortés; García, Martha Cecilia Yépez; Pareja, Rossina G.; Herrera-Cuenca, Marianella; Zimberg, Ioná Zalcman; Guajardo, Viviana; Pratt, Michael; Bolados, Cristian Cofre; Valenzuela, Claudio Farías; Marques, Adilson; Peralta, Miguel; Leme, Ana Carolina B.; Fisberg, Mauro; Werneck, André Oliveira; Silva, Danilo Rodrigues da; Ferrari, Gerson; on behalf of the ELANS Study Group,

doi:10.3390/ijerph17196974

Open AccessArticle

Active Transportation and Obesity Indicators in Adults from Latin America: ELANS Multi-Country Study

by

Juan Guzmán Habinger

¹

,

Javiera Lobos Chávez

²,

Sandra Mahecha Matsudo

^3,4,

Irina Kovalskys

⁵

,

Georgina Gómez

⁶

,

Attilio Rigotti

⁷,

Lilia Yadira Cortés Sanabria

⁸

,

Martha Cecilia Yépez García

⁹

,

Rossina G. Pareja

¹⁰

,

Marianella Herrera-Cuenca

¹¹

,

Ioná Zalcman Zimberg

¹²

,

Viviana Guajardo

¹³,

Michael Pratt

¹⁴,

Cristian Cofre Bolados

^15,16,

Claudio Farías Valenzuela

¹⁵,

Adilson Marques

^17,18

,

Miguel Peralta

^17,18

,

Ana Carolina B. Leme

¹⁹

,

Mauro Fisberg

^20,21

,

André Oliveira Werneck

²²

,

Danilo Rodrigues da Silva

²³

,

Gerson Ferrari

^15,*

and

on behalf of the ELANS Study Group

^† Show full author list Hide full author list

¹

Sports Medicine and Physical Activity Specialty, Science Faculty, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile

²

Datrics, Santiago 7500000, Chile

³

Science Faculty, Universidad Mayor, Santiago 8580745, Chile

⁴

Academic Unit, MEDS Clinic, Santiago 7550000, Chile

⁵

Nutrition Career, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, AAZ Buenos Aires C1107, Argentina

⁶

Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José 11501-2060, Costa Rica

⁷

Department of Nutrition, Diabetes and Metabolism, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Santiago 8330024, Chile

⁸

Department of Nutrition and Biochemistry, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá 110231, Colombia

⁹

College of Health Sciences, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito 17-1200-841, Ecuador

¹⁰

Nutrition Research Institute, Lima 15026, Peru

¹¹

Centro de Estudios del Desarrollo, Universidad Central de Venezuela (CENDES-UCV)/Fundación Bengoa, Caracas 1053, Venezuela

¹²

Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo 04023-062, Brazil

¹³

Nutrition, Health and Wellbeing Area, International Life Science Institute (ILSI) Argentina, Santa Fe Av. 1145, CABA C1059ABF, Argentina

¹⁴

Institute for Public Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0021, USA

¹⁵

Laboratory of Sciences of Physical Activity, Sports and Health, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, USACH, Santiago 7500618, Chile

¹⁶

Institute of Sports Sciences, School of Sports Sciences and Physical Activity, Universidad Santo Tomas Santiago de Chile, Santiago 8370003, Chile

¹⁷

CIPER, Faculty of Human Motricity, Universidade de Lisboa, 1499-002 Lisbon, Portugal

¹⁸

ISAMB, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal

¹⁹

Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo 01246-904, Brazil

²⁰

Department of Pediatrics, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo 04023-061, Brazil

²¹

Instituto Pensi, Fundação José Luiz Egydio Setubal, Hospital Infantil Sabará, São Paulo 01227-200, Brazil

²²

Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo 01246-904, Brazil

²³

Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Sergipe—UFS, São Cristóvão 49100-000, Brazil

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^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

Membership of the ELANS Study Group is provided in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(19), 6974; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17196974

Submission received: 2 September 2020 / Revised: 19 September 2020 / Accepted: 21 September 2020 / Published: 24 September 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Active Commuting and Active Transportation)

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Abstract

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.

Keywords: physical activity; active transportation; Latin America; obesity; body mass index; waist circumference

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MDPI and ACS Style

Habinger, J.G.; Chávez, J.L.; Matsudo, S.M.; Kovalskys, I.; Gómez, G.; Rigotti, A.; Sanabria, L.Y.C.; García, M.C.Y.; Pareja, R.G.; Herrera-Cuenca, M.; et al. Active Transportation and Obesity Indicators in Adults from Latin America: ELANS Multi-Country Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17196974

AMA Style

Habinger JG, Chávez JL, Matsudo SM, Kovalskys I, Gómez G, Rigotti A, Sanabria LYC, García MCY, Pareja RG, Herrera-Cuenca M, et al. Active Transportation and Obesity Indicators in Adults from Latin America: ELANS Multi-Country Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(19):6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17196974

Chicago/Turabian Style

Habinger, Juan Guzmán, Javiera Lobos Chávez, Sandra Mahecha Matsudo, Irina Kovalskys, Georgina Gómez, Attilio Rigotti, Lilia Yadira Cortés Sanabria, Martha Cecilia Yépez García, Rossina G. Pareja, Marianella Herrera-Cuenca, and et al. 2020. "Active Transportation and Obesity Indicators in Adults from Latin America: ELANS Multi-Country Study" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 19: 6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17196974

APA Style

Habinger, J. G., Chávez, J. L., Matsudo, S. M., Kovalskys, I., Gómez, G., Rigotti, A., Sanabria, L. Y. C., García, M. C. Y., Pareja, R. G., Herrera-Cuenca, M., Zimberg, I. Z., Guajardo, V., Pratt, M., Bolados, C. C., Valenzuela, C. F., Marques, A., Peralta, M., Leme, A. C. B., Fisberg, M., ... on behalf of the ELANS Study Group. (2020). Active Transportation and Obesity Indicators in Adults from Latin America: ELANS Multi-Country Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(19), 6974. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17196974

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Active Transportation and Obesity Indicators in Adults from Latin America: ELANS Multi-Country Study

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