Perception of the built environment, habitual behaviors, cardiometabolic risk factors and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents: a study using latent class analysis.

The built environment of a neighborhood may be associated with the practice of physical activity, reduced sedentary behavior (SB), and several health benefits. It was aimed to evaluate the association between perception of the built environment (BE) and measures of habitual behavior, cardiometabolic risk factors, and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents. Study was conducted with 309 students aged 14 to 16 years. BE characteristics were evaluated by Neighborhood Walkability Scale for Youth. Habitual behaviors were assessed by accelerometry. Cell phone use and sedentary time (TST) were assessed using questionnaires. Cardiometabolic risk factors were measured by anthropometry and blood collection, and cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed. Latent class analysis was used to identify BE classes. Association tests were performed between the generated classes and the other outcomes. The latent classes identified were: Class 1, “Best BE”; Class 2, “Moderate BE”; Class 3, “Worst BE”. Adolescents with ‘high SB’ and ‘high TST’ were respectively 1.33 and 1.40 more likely to belong to the class 3 than the class 1. Adolescents with “high triglycerides” had 3.99 times more chance to belong to the class 3 than the class 1. The results highlight the influence of neighborhood BE classes on SB, TST, and triglycerides in adolescents