Spatial analysis of physical activity and ambient air pollution in Kuwait: a cross-sectional study

Tesfaye R Feyissa; Victor M Oguoma; Saad Alsharrah; Ralf-Dieter Schroers; Fahd Al-Mulla; Mark Daniel

doi:10.1038/s41598-026-45634-7

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Spatial analysis of physical activity and ambient air pollution in Kuwait: a cross-sectional study

Journal article

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Spatial analysis of physical activity and ambient air pollution in Kuwait: a cross-sectional study

Tesfaye R Feyissa, Victor M Oguoma, Saad Alsharrah, Ralf-Dieter Schroers, Fahd Al-Mulla and Mark Daniel

Scientific Reports, Vol.Advanced access

02-Apr-2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45634-7

PMID: 41927667

Appears in Thompson Institute Research Collection

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Abstract

Air pollution

Physical activity

Kuwait

GEO-spatial location

Thompson Institute Special Collection

Other Collaborations

Air pollution may be associated with lesser physical activity (PA), a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. Such an analysis has not been conducted for Kuwait, a major petroleum-producing nation with some of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. This study aimed to assess the associations between spatiotemporally expressed ambient air pollutant concentrations and PA in Kuwait. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2011 to 2014, involving 2529 adults ≥ 18 years. Participants were classified as physically active if they exceeded 600 MET minutes per week. Monthly mean air pollutant concentrations (hydrogen sulphide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and PM10) were spatially interpolated to local residential areas using data from local monitoring stations. Random effects logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the associations between PA and air pollutants (an alpha level of 0.05 was used for all statistical tests). Participants were predominantly male (63%) with mean body mass index 29.3 kg/m². 52% were physically active. The overall air pollutant score was inversely associated with PA (adjusted odds ratio: 0.87, 95% CI 0.79–0.95). A 10 mean increase (ppb) in air pollutant concentration was associated with proportionately lower odds of being physically active for hydrogen sulphide (10%), nitric oxide (14%), nitrogen dioxide (16%), and nitrogen oxides (14%). In contrast, a 10 increase (ppb) in ozone concentration was associated with 15% greater odds of being physically active. Our findings highlight for Kuwait a high level of insufficient PA and a previously undocumented negative association between PA and air pollution, particularly nitrogen-based pollutants and hydrogen sulphide. Research is required to evaluate how air pollution may inhibit PA and whether reductions in emissions could increase PA in Kuwait.

Details

Title: Spatial analysis of physical activity and ambient air pollution in Kuwait: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Tesfaye R Feyissa (Corresponding Author) - Deakin University
Victor M Oguoma - University of the Sunshine Coast
Saad Alsharrah - Deakin University
Ralf-Dieter Schroers - Dasman Diabetes Institute
Fahd Al-Mulla - Dasman Diabetes Institute
Mark Daniel - Dasman Diabetes Institute
Publication details: Scientific Reports, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-45634-7
ISSN: 2045-2322
PMID: 41927667
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Data Availability: The dataset used and/or analysed in this study is not publicly available. It can be provided subject to reasonable request to Dasman Diabetes Institute in line with provisions of the ethics committee. The data request may be submitted to [saad.alsharrah@dasmaninstitute.org] (mailto: saad.alsharrah@dasmaninstitute.org) .
Grant note: Funding for this research was provided by the Kuwait Ministry of Health.
Organisation Unit: Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Thompson Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991222618502621
Output Type: Journal article

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