The Associations Between Urbanicity and Physical Activity and Sitting Time in Mexico

Background: Approximately 17.4% of people in Mexico self-report physical activity levels below the World Health Organization's guidelines and an average sedentary time of 16 hours per day. 1 Low physical activity has been associated with non-communicable disease risk factors and previous research suggests that urbanicity might be an important determinant of physical activity. The aim of this study was to measure urbanicity in Mexico and assess if it is associated with physical activity and sitting time. Methods: A sample of 2880 men and 4211 women aged 20 to 69 was taken from the 2012 Mexico National Health and Nutrition Survey and multivariable linear regression models were used to examine the association between physical activity, sitting time and urbanicity; adjusting for sex, education level, socioeconomic status and Body Mass Index. The urbanicity score and the 7 urbanicity subscores were estimated from the CENSUS 2010. Results: The subscores of demographic, economic activity, diversity and communication were negatively associated with physical activity. Sitting time was positively associated with the overall urbanicity, and the demographic and health subscores. Conclusions: There was evidence of associations between urbanicity and physical activity in Mexico.