Where do People Engage in Physical Activity? A Visualization Approach to the Domain Composition of Population...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Effective physical activity promotion necessitates understanding contributions from work, household, travel, and recreation domains.
• Previous studies using averages obscure individual variations in physical activity domain contributions.
• A novel visualization approach is needed to assess the distribution of physical activity domain contributions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a visualization method for assessing the distribution of relative contributions from different physical activity domains.
• To compare physical activity domain distributions between the United States and Japan.

Main Methods:

• Utilized nationally representative data from US (NHANES 2017-2018) and Japan (SSFSNLSS 2020) using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire.
• Calculated the relative contribution of each domain (work, household, travel, recreation) to total physical activity.
• Employed ternary plots with histograms to visualize the distribution of these domain contributions.

Main Results:

• Most participants in both countries concentrated their physical activity in one or two domains.
• Significant differences in domain composition clusters were observed between the US and Japan.
• The US showed higher work/household contributions, while Japan had higher travel contributions; higher work/household contributions correlated with greater moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

Conclusions:

• A novel visualization approach revealed that individuals typically concentrate physical activity in limited domains.
• Recognizing diverse physical activity patterns is crucial for developing comprehensive, domain-specific health promotion strategies.
• A systems approach, integrating efforts across all domains like active transportation and recreation, is vital for meeting physical activity guidelines.