In what scientists say is the largest study of human movement ever conducted, researchers collected physical activity data from smartphone users in 111 countries – and discovered what they think could be a significant unrecognised public health risk.
科学家表示,这是迄今为止规模最大的关于人类运动的研究。研究人员收集了来自111个国家的智能手机用户的身体运动数据,发现了在他们看来可能尚未意识到的重大公共健康风险。
Analysing the level of activity of more than 700,000 people, the team found it wasn't the average level of physical activity in each country that proved the biggest predictor of obesity – it was the amount of "activity inequality" within each population that increased the prevalence of obesity.
该研究团队分析了70多万人的运动水平后发现,每个国家的国民身体运动平均水平并不是预测肥胖的最大因素,而是每个国家的国民“运动不平等”这一数值增加了肥胖率。
When they compiled the data, the team noticed that in countries with little obesity, people tended to walk about the same amount each day. In other countries, though, where there were bigger gaps between those who walked a lot and those who walked only a little, obesity was significantly more of a problem.
研究团队在统计数据时注意到,在肥胖率很低的国家,往往人们每天走的步数相差无几。然而,在其他一些国家,那些走了很多步的人和那些只走了一点的人之间的步数差距更大,在这些国家里肥胖成了大问题。
This correlation persisted even when the average level of steps taken was the same across countries – showing that while national physical activity averages might seem like a reasonable way of comparing countries' level of fitness, by themselves they aren't at all reliable for gauging obesity prevalence.
即使不同国家的平均步数相同,上述相关性仍然存在。对比国家身体运动平均水平可能看上去是比较不同国家健康水平的合理方式,但是光看这一数值本身并不能准确地衡量肥胖率。
Of the 46 countries represented with results from at least 1,000 app users, the five countries with the highest levels of activity inequality were Saudi Arabia, then Australia, Canada, Egypt (all equal second), and the US.
在46个国家的至少1000名App用户中,运动不平等程度最高的五个国家是沙特阿拉伯、澳大利亚、加拿大、埃及(并列第二)和美国。
At the other end of the scale – where more evenly distributed patterns of physical activity correlate with lower prevalence of unhealthy weight gain – China leads the list, followed by Sweden, South Korea, and Czechia.
另一方面,身体运动呈现更均匀分布的模式,从而较少出现不健康的增重现象的国家中,中国位居第一,紧接着是瑞典、韩国和捷克。