Older adults' outdoor walking and the built environment: does income matter?
BMC Public Health
; 15: 876, 2015 Sep 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26359159
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Our aim was to examine the association between Street Smart Walk Score® and self-reported outdoor walking among older Canadians, and to determine whether socioeconomic status modifies this association.METHODS:
We linked objective walkability data with cross-sectional survey data from the Canadian Community Health Survey Healthy-Aging 2008-2009 Cycle for a sample of 1309 British Columbians aged ≥ 65 years. We examined associations between Street Smart Walk Score and meeting physical activity guidelines (≥150 min of moderate to vigorous activity/week) through self-reported outdoor walking using multivariable logistic regression, and tested for significant interactions with household income.RESULTS:
A ten point higher Street Smart Walk Score was associated with a 17 % higher odds of meeting physical activity guidelines through walking outside (95 % CI 1.07,1.27). In addition, older adults living in neighbourhoods categorised as Walker's Paradise were over three times more likely to meet guidelines than those living in Car-dependent/Very car dependent neighbourhoods. We found no evidence that household income moderated the effect of Walk Score on walking outside.CONCLUSIONS:
Neighbourhood design may be one avenue whereby physical activity levels of older people can be enhanced through outdoor walking, with benefit across socioeconomic strata.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Social Class
/
Residence Characteristics
/
Walking
/
Environment Design
/
Income
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
BMC Public Health
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2015
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Canada