The Home Entorno físico y su Relación con la Actividad Física y del comportamiento sedentario: una revisión sistemática.

Reviews of neighbourhood (macro) environment characteristics such as the presence of sidewalks and aesthetics have shown significant correlations with resident physical activity (PA) and sedentary (SD) behaviour. Currently, no comprehensive review has appraised and collected available evidence on the home (micro) physical environment. The purpose of this review was to examine how the home physical environment relates to adult and child PA and SD behaviours. Articles were searched during May 2014 using Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus databases which yielded 3 265 potential studies. Papers were considered eligible if they investigated the presence of PA (ie. exercise equipment, exergaming devices) or SD (ie. television, videogames) equipment and PA or SD behaviour. After, screening and manual cross-referencing, 49 studies (20 experimental and 29 observational designs) were found to meet the eligibility criteria. Interventions that reduced sedentary time by using TV limiting devices were shown to be effective for children but the results were limited for adults. Overall, large exercise equipment (ie. treadmills), and prominent exergaming materials (exergaming bike, dance mats) were found to be more effective than smaller devices. Observational studies revealed that location and quantity of televisions correlated with SD behaviour with the latter having a greater effect on girls. This was similarly found for the quantity of PA equipment which also correlated with behaviour in females. Given the large market for exercise equipment, videos and exergaming, the limited work performed on its effectiveness in homes is alarming. Future research should focus on developing stronger RCTs, investigate the location of PA equipment, and examine mediators of the gender discrepancy found in contemporary studies.