Benton_2016 - The effect of changing the built environment on physical activity: a quantitative review of the risk of bias in natural experiments

Basic Article Info:

Article key Benton_2016
Title The effect of changing the built environment on physical activity: a quantitative review of the risk of bias in natural experiments
Year 2016
Review type meta-analysis
Main topic Assessing the causal effects of the built environment factors on physical activity
Subjects area(s) Environment and nature, Social and behavioural, Health and well-being
Built environment scale Urban area / Urban system
Application(s) Policy making, Human interactions and community engagement, Implementation
Geographically focused no
Prisma diagram used no
Study focus start not mentioned
Study focus end 2016
Search string not provided
No. of original sources 12
Synthesis method quantitative
Quantitative map included yes
Conflict of interest not declared specifically
Comments There is no search string mentioned in the paper.

 

Details about searches

Search sources
Search source name Source type Comments Weblink
Medline Online Database MEDLINE® contains journal citations and abstracts for biomedical literature from around the world. PubMed® provides free access to MEDLINE and links to full text articles when possible. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/pmresources.html
Keywords used in search Built Environment, Natural Environment, Physical Activity, Risk of Bias

 

Authorship

Authors
Name Email Organisation Address Country
Ruth F. Hunter ruth.hunter@qub.ac.uk UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI)/Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast Northern Ireland United Kingdom
Ruth F. Hunter ruth.hunter@qub.ac.uk UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (NI)/Centre for Public Health Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. United Kingdom
David P. French david.french@manchester.ac.uk School of Psychological Sciences University of Manchester, Coupland 1 Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL United Kingdom
Jack S. Benton School of Psychological Sciences University of Manchester, Coupland 1 Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL United Kingdom
Jamie Anderson Department of Architecture University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

 

Funding

Funding sources No funding sources recorded


Article publication information:

Article type Journal article
Article category Text
Geographical scale International
Language English
Chapter or part
Conference date
Conference venue
Published date 2016-10-07
Edition
Issue 1
Journal International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Pagination 107
Peer reviewed yes
Publication place
Publisher BIOMED CENTRAL LTD
School / department or centre
Series volume no.
Series title
Series sort no.
Volume 13
Website owner
Copyrights of article Authors
Licences of article Open Access:
Identifiers of article DOI: 10.1186/s12966-016-0433-3, ISBN: 1479-5868 (Electronic)\r1479-5868 (Linking), ISSN: 1479-5868, PMID: 27717360


Quality assessment

Quality measure Details Score Comments
QA question 1 Are the research questions and inclusion criteria for the review clearly delineated? 1 = “Yes” = Who (Population), What (Intervention, Comparator group, Outcome), Where and When described. general but concrete description of aims
QA question 2 Did the report of the review contain an explicit statement that the review methods were established prior to the conduct of the review and did the report justify any significant deviations from the protocol? 0 = ”No” = research question and inclusion criteria not outlined in detail. not provided
QA question 3 Did the review authors explain their selection of the study designs for inclusion in the review? 0.5 = “Can’t answer / not sure / partially” =Cannot decide between “yes” and “no”, basing on the information provided in the paper. "Eligible studies had to evaluate the effects of changing the built environment on physical activity, include at least one measurement before and one measurement of physical activity after changes in the environment, and have at least one intervention site and nonintervention comparison site."
QA question 4 Did the review authors use a comprehensive literature search strategy? 0.5 = “Can’t answer / not sure / partially” = searched at least 2 databases (relevant to research question), provided key word and/or general search strategy, justified publication restrictions (e.g., language). studies included in three earlier systematic reviews
QA question 5 Did the review authors perform study selection in duplicate? 1 = “Yes” = either ONE of the following: at least two reviewers independently agreed on selection of eligible studies and achieved consensus on which studies to include OR two reviewers selected a sample of eligible studies and achieved good agreement (at least 80%), with the remainder selected by one reviewer. 2 reviewers participated
QA question 6 Did the review authors perform data extraction in duplicate? 1 = “Yes” = either ONE of the following: at least two reviewers achieved consensus on which data to extract from included studies OR two reviewers extracted data from a sample of eligible studies and achieved good agreement (at least 8 %), with the remainder extracted by one reviewer. 2-3 reviewers participated
QA question 7 Did the review authors provide a list of excluded studies and justify the exclusions? 0 =”No” = No list of studies excluded at a full-text stage. not provided
QA question 8 Did the review authors describe the included studies in adequate detail? 1 = “Yes” = ALL the following: Who (Population), What (Intervention, Comparator group, Outcome), Where and When described in detail. Table 2
QA question 9 Did the review authors use a satisfactory technique for assessing the risk of bias (RoB) in individual studies that were included in the review? 1 = “Yes” = specifically mentions RoB assessment of individual included studies. Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool: for Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions (ACROBAT-NRSI)
QA question 10 Did the review authors report on the sources of funding for the studies included in the review? 0 =”No” = no report of the sources of funding for individual studies included in the review. not provided
QA question 11 If meta-analysis was performed did the review authors use appropriate methods for statistical combination of results? N/A no meta-analysis
QA question 12 If meta-analysis was performed, did the review authors assess the potential impact of RoB in individual studies on the results of the meta-analysis or other evidence synthesis? N/A no meta-analysis
QA question 13 Did the review authors account for RoB in individual studies when interpreting/ discussing the results of the review? 1 = “Yes” = included only low risk of bias studies OR the review provided a discussion of the likely impact of RoB on the results. results and discussion
QA question 14 Did the review authors provide a satisfactory explanation for, and discussion of, any heterogeneity observed in the results of the review? 1 = “Yes” = There was no significant heterogeneity in the results OR if heterogeneity was present the authors performed an investigation of sources of any heterogeneity in the results and discussed the impact of this on the results of the review. general discussion
QA question 15 If they performed quantitative synthesis did the review authors carry out an adequate investigation of publication bias (small study bias) and discuss its likely impact on the results of the review? N/A no meta-analysis
QA question 16 Did the review authors report any potential sources of conflict of interest, including any funding they received for conducting the review? 1 = “Yes” = The authors reported no competing interests OR the authors described their funding sources and how they managed potential conflicts of interest. both conflict of interests and funding statements provided
Quality index Overall rating (Quality Index) assigned to each SR, highlighting whether major concerns arose during quality assessment that may affect overall conclusions of a SR: A = Minimal flaws; B = Some flaws; C = Major flaws in many aspects of the review. B no protocol and no list of ecluded studies
Suggested review type Actual review type:systematic map, systematic review, rapid review, scoping review, narrative review, etc. systematic review N/A
Risk of bias level How likely are the main conclusions of the review to be biased? Basing on review type and quality index and quality_index_comment assign: high moderate or low risk? low 2-3 researchers screening and coding, detailed assessment of risks of bias