Associations between green area in school neighbourhoods and overweight and obesity among Norwegian adolescents

- Prevalence of overweight among Norwegian adolescents varies dependent on greenness.
- The prevalence is highest in most green areas and lowest in less green areas.
- Physical activity and active transportation are independent explanatory factors.
- Health promoting activities should be understood better in rural areas in Norway.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between green areas and adolescents' body mass index (BMI). This is based on the notion that nature environment is known to have beneficial effects on human health, and that some of the explanation for this is that green areas are especially motivating or suitable as arenas for physical activity. We included 10,527 participants from the Norwegian Youth Study, which was conducted between 2001 and 2004. The participants reported body weight, height, and important potential confounding variables about lifestyle, family situation, and neighbourhood characteristics. Green area was assessed from land cover maps and we calculated the percentage of green areas within 1 km and 5 km buffers around the adolescents' schools. We found that the percentage of overweight and obese adolescents increased significantly when the percentage of green areas in the participants' surrounding increased (p < 0.001 for both outcomes and buffer sizes). The same results were found in logistic regression models where we adjusted for a large set of variables. As an example, the odds for being overweight was 1.38 times higher (95% CI: 1.02-1.85) for participants living in the most green surroundings compared to participants living in the least green surroundings (1 km buffer). Norwegian green areas are typically farmland, woods, and mountains, and we speculate if these areas are less accessible and attractive for adolescents, who might need more facilitated green areas for sport and physical activity.