Cargando…

Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels

In the context of stagnating global levels of physical activity (PA), this study examines the geographical segmentation of PA at the regional level (196 regions) in Europe. Cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression are applied. Cluster analysis provides a taxonomy of four differentiated g...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lera-Lopez, Fernando, Marco, Rocio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9053455/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34634808
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab157
_version_ 1784696991887917056
author Lera-Lopez, Fernando
Marco, Rocio
author_facet Lera-Lopez, Fernando
Marco, Rocio
author_sort Lera-Lopez, Fernando
collection PubMed
description In the context of stagnating global levels of physical activity (PA), this study examines the geographical segmentation of PA at the regional level (196 regions) in Europe. Cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression are applied. Cluster analysis provides a taxonomy of four differentiated groups according to the health-related PA levels of the European regions. This taxonomy shows that there are significant regional disparities among European countries in terms of the regional PA level. The cluster profiles in terms of regional socioeconomic characteristics are described for each group, emphasizing the regional characteristics associated with PA. Regional economic variables, tertiary education and social Internet use are significant variables for characterizing the types of regions. The results emphasize the relevance of a European regional approach for reducing inter-regional PA disparities and improving health through PA in Europe. Practical implications of this research are based on regional European coordination, such as collaborative models of sport infrastructure use, co-financing of inter-regional facilities, mutual physical educational scholar programs and promotion of common inter-regional sport competitions and sporting events. Finally, formal schemes for exchanging of best regional practices to promote health-enhancing PA might increase the perception and the role of PA at the regional level in the European society.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9053455
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Oxford University Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-90534552022-05-02 Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels Lera-Lopez, Fernando Marco, Rocio Health Promot Int Articles In the context of stagnating global levels of physical activity (PA), this study examines the geographical segmentation of PA at the regional level (196 regions) in Europe. Cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression are applied. Cluster analysis provides a taxonomy of four differentiated groups according to the health-related PA levels of the European regions. This taxonomy shows that there are significant regional disparities among European countries in terms of the regional PA level. The cluster profiles in terms of regional socioeconomic characteristics are described for each group, emphasizing the regional characteristics associated with PA. Regional economic variables, tertiary education and social Internet use are significant variables for characterizing the types of regions. The results emphasize the relevance of a European regional approach for reducing inter-regional PA disparities and improving health through PA in Europe. Practical implications of this research are based on regional European coordination, such as collaborative models of sport infrastructure use, co-financing of inter-regional facilities, mutual physical educational scholar programs and promotion of common inter-regional sport competitions and sporting events. Finally, formal schemes for exchanging of best regional practices to promote health-enhancing PA might increase the perception and the role of PA at the regional level in the European society. Oxford University Press 2021-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC9053455/ /pubmed/34634808 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab157 Text en © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Articles
Lera-Lopez, Fernando
Marco, Rocio
Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels
title Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels
title_full Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels
title_fullStr Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels
title_full_unstemmed Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels
title_short Physical activity disparities across Europe: clustering European regions by health-related physical activity levels
title_sort physical activity disparities across europe: clustering european regions by health-related physical activity levels
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9053455/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34634808
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab157
work_keys_str_mv AT leralopezfernando physicalactivitydisparitiesacrosseuropeclusteringeuropeanregionsbyhealthrelatedphysicalactivitylevels
AT marcorocio physicalactivitydisparitiesacrosseuropeclusteringeuropeanregionsbyhealthrelatedphysicalactivitylevels