The associations between neighborhood walkability attributes and objectively measured physical activity in older adults

Bo-I Chen; Ming-Chun Hsueh; Ru Rutherford; Jong-Hwan Park; Yung Liao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0222268

The associations between neighborhood walkability attributes and objectively measured physical activity in older adults

PLoS One. 2019 Sep 6;14(9):e0222268. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222268. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Bo-I Chen¹, Ming-Chun Hsueh¹, Ru Rutherford², Jong-Hwan Park³, Yung Liao²

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Sports Pedagogy, University of Taipei, Taipei City, Taiwan.
² Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan.
³ Health Convergence Medicine Research Group, Biomedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea.

Abstract

A limited number of studies have used objective measures to examine the associations between the built environment and physical activity (PA) among older adults. This study aimed to examine geographic information systems-derived neighborhood walkability attributes and accelerometer measured PA in older adults. Data were collected from 124 older Taiwanese adults aged over 60 years (mean age: 69.9). Adjusted multiple linear regression was performed to explore the associations between five neighborhood walkability factors (population density, street connectivity, sidewalk availability, access to destinations, and public transportation) and five metrics of accelerometer-measured physical activity (total PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA, light PA, long moderate-to-vigorous PA bouts, and daily step counts). After adjusting for potential confounders, we found that greater sidewalk availability was positively associated with daily step counts in older adults (β = 0.165; 95% confidence interval: 0.006, 0.412; P = 0.043). No associations between other neighborhood environment attributes and PA metrics were observed. In conclusion, high sidewalk availability in the neighborhood may be supportive for older adults' daily step counts. Further longitudinal research is needed to establish the causality between the built environment and objectively measured PA in older adults.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Accelerometry
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Environment Design*
Exercise*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Population Density
Residence Characteristics*
Taiwan
Walking*

Grants and funding

M-C.H. received a personal grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 106- 2410-H-003 -144 -MY2) and Y.L. received a personal grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 107-2410-H-003-117-MY2 and 108-2622-8-003-001-TM1). The Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan was not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript. This work was supported by a Global Research Network program through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-Project number: NRF- 2017S1A2A2038558). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.