ArticlePreventing chronic disease2018
Changes in Physical Activity After Installation of a Fitness Zone in a Community Park.
Article in Preventing chronic disease, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of outdoor fitness equipment intervention on health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Impact of Changes to Urban Green Spaces on Health and Education Outcomes, and a Critique of Their Applicability to Inform Economic Evaluation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Interventions to Increase Participation and Physical Activities in Parks: A Systematic Review of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Use behavior and spatial characteristics of National Fitness Routes in China: an in situ observational study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Residents' perspectives on a resident-centered neighborhood approach to support health: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Evaluating actual use of outdoor exercise equipment in a community park in Southern California through video-captured behavioral assessment.Discover public health · 2025Article
- Does the Installation or the Improvement of Existing Outdoor Parks Increase Physical Activity Levels? A Systematic Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Availability of public open space and the practice of leisure-time physical activity among the Brazilian adult population.International journal of public health · 2020Article
- Placement of Outdoor Exercise Equipment and Physical Activity: A Quasi-Experimental Study in Two Parks in Southern California.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Integrating smartphone technology, social support and the outdoor built environment to promote community-based aerobic and resistance-based physical activity: Rationale and study protocol for the 'Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionIncreases in physical activity can lead to decreases in the prevalence of chronic diseases. Parks provide an ideal setting for physical activity. We investigated the effect of a fitness equipment installation on the intensity of park users' physical activity at a community park.
methodsWe used the System for Observing Play and Recreation in a Community to record physical activity in Eastgate Park in Garden Grove, California, in August 2015 (preintervention [n = 1,650 person-periods]) and in February 2016 (postintervention [n = 1,776 person-periods]). We quantified physical activity in target areas of the park during 15-minute observation periods in 2 ways: 1) we categorized each user's activity level during the period (sedentary, walking, vigorous), and 2) we converted activity levels to numeric metabolic equivalent task (MET) scores and calculated the period-average score across users. We used mixed-effects regression models to assess 1) the proportional odds of higher activity level at postintervention and 2) the association between intervention status (pre vs post) and mean period-average MET scores.
resultsIn the immediate zone around the fitness equipment, the odds ratio for a higher activity level was 1.58 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-2.18; P = .006) and the mean period-average MET score was 0.33 (95% CI, -0.07 to 0.74; P = .11) units higher at postintervention. Across the park as a whole, the odds ratio for a higher activity level was 1.41 (95% CI, 1.21-1.63; P < .001), and the mean period-average MET score was 0.34 (95% CI, 0.12-0.56; P = .003) units higher at postintervention.
conclusionInstalling fitness zones appears to be an effective intervention for increasing physical activity of park users. Further studies need to be conducted to understand the sustained impact of fitness zones over time.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.