title: Is change in availability of sports facilities associated with change in physical activity? A prospective cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined whether change in distance to or number of sports facilities is related to change in metabolic equivalent task (MET) hours/week.
  
  
  METHODS
  25,834 Finnish Public Sector study cohort participants reported their weekly physical activity in 2000 and 2008. Distances from each participant's home to the nearest facility and number of facilities within 500m from home were calculated from geographic coordinates. We assessed changes in weekly MET hours of physical activity between the baseline and the follow-up in relation to change in distance to the nearest facility (remained close, decreased, remained distant, increased) and number of facilities <500m from home (remained high, increased, remained low, decreased).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average decrease in MET hours was greater for those whose distance to a sports facility increased (-1.4 (95% CI -3.8--0.96)) (vs. remained close). The same was observed for those for whom the number of facilities near home decreased (-2.35 (95% CI -4.84-0.14)) (vs. remained high). Increase in availability was not related to increase in MET hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An increase in distance to and decrease in number of sports facilities were associated with a decrease in physical activity suggesting that changes in availability of facilities may affect physical activity levels.
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute Occupational Health, Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: jaana.halonen@ttl.fi.
authors.forename: Jaana I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Halonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Finland; Department of Health, Functional Capacity and Welfare, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stenholm
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London Medical School, London, UK.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kivimäki
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jaana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pentti
authors.affiliation: Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London Medical School, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Finland; Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland; Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jussi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vahtera
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013177:Sports / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Cohort study; MET; Physical activity; Sports facility