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Epidemiology
Cohort profile
Cohort profile: Examining Neighbourhood Activities in Built Living Environments in London: the ENABLE London—Olympic Park cohort
  1. Bina Ram1,
  2. Claire M Nightingale1,
  3. Mohammed T Hudda1,
  4. Venediktos V Kapetanakis1,
  5. Anne Ellaway2,
  6. Ashley R Cooper3,4,
  7. Angie Page3,
  8. Daniel Lewis5,
  9. Steven Cummins5,
  10. Billie Giles-Corti6,
  11. Peter H Whincup1,
  12. Derek G Cook1,
  13. Alicja R Rudnicka1,
  14. Christopher G Owen1
  1. 1Population Health Research Institute, St George's, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, UK
  2. 2MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
  3. 3Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  4. 4Bristol Biomedical Research Unit in Nutrition, Diet and Lifestyle, National Institute for Health Research, Bristol, UK
  5. 5London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
  6. 6McCaughey VicHealth Community Wellbeing Unit, NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Professor Christopher G Owen; cowen{at}sgul.ac.uk

Abstract

Purpose The Examining Neighbourhood Activities in Built Living Environments in London (ENABLE London) project is a natural experiment which aims to establish whether physical activity and other health behaviours show sustained changes among individuals and families relocating to East Village (formerly the London 2012 Olympics Athletes' Village), when compared with a control population living outside East Village throughout.

Participants Between January 2013 and December 2015, 1497 individuals from 1006 households were recruited and assessed (at baseline) (including 392 households seeking social housing, 421 seeking intermediate and 193 seeking market rent homes). The 2-year follow-up rate is 62% of households to date, of which 57% have moved to East Village.

Findings to date Assessments of physical activity (measured objectively using accelerometers) combined with Global Positioning System technology and Geographic Information System mapping of the local area are being used to characterise physical activity patterns and location among study participants and assess the attributes of the environments to which they are exposed. Assessments of body composition, based on weight, height and bioelectrical impedance, have been made and detailed participant questionnaires provide information on socioeconomic position, general health/health status, well-being, anxiety, depression, attitudes to leisure time activities and other personal, social and environmental influences on physical activity, including the use of recreational space and facilities in their residential neighbourhood.

Future plans The main analyses will examine the changes in physical activity, health and well-being observed in the East Village group compared with controls and the influence of specific elements of the built environment on observed changes. The ENABLE London project exploits a unique opportunity to evaluate a ‘natural experiment’, provided by the building and rapid occupation of East Village. Findings from the study will be generalisable to other urban residential housing developments, and will help inform future evidence-based urban planning.

  • EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • PUBLIC HEALTH
  • SOCIAL MEDICINE

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012643

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All authors read and contributed to this manuscript. CGO, ARR, AE, ARC, AP, DL, SC, BG-C, DGC and PHW designed the study and raised funding. BR, ARR and CGO collected data for the study and enrolled participants. BR, CMN, MTH, VVK, ARR and CGO undertook data management. BR, CMN, MTH and ARR analysed the data. BR and CGO wrote the first draft of the report, to which all authors contributed. CGO is responsible for data integrity.

    • Funding This research is being supported by project grants from the Medical Research Council National Prevention Research Initiative (MR/J000345/1) and National Institute for Health Research (12/211/69). BR is supported by a St George's, University of London, Graduate School PhD studentship. Diabetes and obesity prevention research at St George's, University of London is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) South London. AE is funded by the UK Medical Research Council as part of the Neighbourhoods and Communities Programme (MC_UU_12017-10). BG-C is supported by an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (#1107672). ARC is supported by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Bristol Nutrition Biomedical Research Unit based at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol.

    • Disclaimer The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funding agencies, the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval NRES Committee London: City Road and Hampstead 12/LO/1031.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Further details of the ENABLE London study are available from the study website (http://www.enable.sgul.ac.uk/). The ongoing collection and management of data has been made possible through grant funding from the Medical Research Council and the National Institute of Health Research. We welcome proposals for collaborative projects. For general data sharing inquiries, contact CGO (cowen@sgul.ac.uk).