Associations between physical activity, neighborhood built environment features, and social capital in the rural setting of Colorado's San Luis Valley

Background: Chronic disease prevalence in the San Luis Valley of Colorado is disproportionately greater than the rest of the state. The benefits of physical activity (PA) on the prevention and successful management of chronic disease has been well demonstrated in the literature. Studies demonstrating relationships between the built environment (BE) and PA, and social capital and PA have largely focused on urban centers, with rural area studies being few and in some cases contradictory. This study will investigate the relationship between physical activity and objective measures of the built environment on a respondent's street segment, self-reported access to environments for exercise in a respondent's neighborhood, and social capital.;Methods: The 2010 San Luis Valley Community Health Survey (n=1187) is a comprehensive cross-sectional survey about health and behaviors which included a street audit of the respondent's street segment for BE features. Self-reported demographics, PA, and perceived access to environments for exercise were taken from the survey and linked to their respective street audits. Self-reported perceived access to BE features for exercise were compared against similar items from the street audits to determine whether they were in agreement. Multiple linear regression and logistic regression were performed to determine the relationship between the respective PA outcomes of total minutes of moderate and vigorous PA per week, and meeting PA recommendations with BE and social capital variables.;Results: Higher levels of PA was associated with integration of natural land (p<0.01), access to parks and trails in neighborhoods (p=0.04), and social capital (p=0.02). A higher likelihood of meeting CDC physical activity guidelines was associated with access to parks and trails in neighborhoods (p=0.04), and access to public exercise facilities (p=0.02). Lower levels of PA and a lower likelihood of meeting PA guidelines was associated with street characteristics for walking and biking (p<0.01), and recreational facilities (p<0.01). These results indicate there is a relationship between BE and PA in rural areas. Better assessment of what BE features are relevant to rural residents and a better definition of "neighborhood" is needed to further elaborate on the relationship between BE and PA in a rural setting.