ArticleThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2025
Scaling up natural experimental studies: harnessing emerging technologies to transform physical activity and built environment research.
Article in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Impacts of built environment changes on physical activity in Canada: a systematic review of natural experiments.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2026Pooled it
- "There's no better medicine than my outdoors": understanding the importance of physical activity in rural and remote First Nations communities in Northern British Columbia, Canada.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2026Article
- Associations between use of renovated urban parks and perceptions of social cohesion in diverse New York City communities.Discover public health · 2026Article
- Contributions of park-based activities to overall physical activity among adults living near recently renovated parks in low-income New York City neighborhoods: variations by race/ethnicity and sex.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Evaluating how built environment interventions influence physical activity is crucial for informing effective policies. Natural experiments provide opportunities to assess real-world interventions, yet traditional data collection methods - such as surveys, accelerometers, manual observation and environmental audit tools - limit scalability due to inefficiencies, low participant engagement, and biases. As a result, there is a lack of robust, generalisable evidence to inform policymakers on the most effective built environment interventions for promoting physical activity across diverse communities. In this commentary, we outline four emerging technologies that could address these challenges: (1) smartphone applications and wearable technology for physical activity measurement, (2) geolocation data for assessing mobility patterns, (3) automated systematic observation of physical activity behaviours, and (4) automated environmental audits. We discuss how these approaches can enhance the scalability of natural experimental studies while also considering important ethical implications, including privacy, inclusivity, and community engagement. Advancing and integrating these technologies is critical for generating robust evidence to design built environments that equitably support physical activity.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.