Neighborhood 'walkability'
Determines Activity Level of Older Women, Say Researchers
Aug. 29, 2003 - – Neighborhood "walkability"
and the proximity of destinations play major roles in the amount of
physical activity older women get, according to a University of
Pittsburgh study published in the September issue of the American
Journal of Health Promotion.
"We found that older women who feel their
neighborhoods are favorable for walking are up to 100 percent more
physically active than those who see their neighborhoods as
unfavorable for walking," said lead author Wendy King, an epidemiology
student at the Graduate School of Public Health. "In addition, women
who live near facilities and services like parks, trails or shops have
considerably higher levels of activity than those whose homes are not
within walking distance to such sites."
Investigators conducted a cross-sectional
analysis of data collected on 149 Pittsburgh women whose average age
was 74 years. Most lived in suburban or urban neighborhoods with low
crime rates.
Study participants wore pedometers to measure
their physical activity. The women reported walking levels, leisure
time physical activity and neighborhood environmental features in
interviews and questionnaires.
Results showed that participants who lived within
20-minutes walking distance of a park; a biking or walking trail; or a
department, discount or hardware store; and who lived in a
neighborhood considered "walkable," had higher pedometer readings and
higher total physical activity scores on questionnaires.
For instance, women who lived near biking or
walking trails averaged 6,797 steps per day on the pedometer, versus
4,908 steps by those who do not live near a trail. Women who lived
within walking distance from a department, discount or hardware store
averaged 6,808 steps per day, versus 5,015 steps for those not living
near such a store.
Those who rated their neighborhood walkability as
"excellent" took an average of 6,349 steps per day, while those with
self-rated "poor" neighborhood walkability averaged 3,376 steps per
day.
"This study has great implications for the health
of older women, who make up one of the least active groups in the
United States," said co-author and senior investigator Andrea Kriska,
Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at the Graduate School of
Public Health. "With the growing epidemic of inactivity and obesity,
experts are stressing the need for more exercise. But here we show
that older women, the group that most needs to heed this advice, are
encountering environmental barriers that prevent them from getting
that exercise."
The study authors add that follow-up research
should include a more diverse group of individuals to better
understand the effects of environmental factors in the population at
large, and to determine specific features besides proximity to
destinations that make a neighborhood favorable or unfavorable for
walking.
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