Walk score® and its associations with older adults’ health behaviors and outcomes

Yung Liao; Chien Yu Lin; Ting Fu Lai; Yen Ju Chen; Bohyeon Kim; Jong Hwan Park

doi:10.3390/ijerph16040622

Walk score® and its associations with older adults’ health behaviors and outcomes

Yung Liao, Chien Yu Lin, Ting Fu Lai, Yen Ju Chen, Bohyeon Kim, Jong Hwan Park^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the associations between Walk Score® and lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in older Taiwanese adults. A nationwide survey was conducted through telephone-based interviews with older adults (65 years and older) in Taiwan. Data on Walk Score®, lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, healthy eating behavior, alcohol use, and smoking status), health outcomes (overweight/obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease), and personal characteristics were obtained from 1052 respondents. A binary logistic regression adjusting for potential confounders was employed. None of the Walk Score® categories were related to the recommended levels of total physical activity. The categories “very walkable” and “walker’s paradise” were positively related to total sedentary time and TV viewing among older adults. No significant associations were found between Walk Score® and other lifestyle health behaviors or health outcomes. While Walk Score® was not associated with recommended levels of physical activity, it was positively related to prolonged sedentary time in the context of a non-Western country. The different associations between the walk score and health lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in different contexts should be noted.

Original language	English
Article number	622
Journal	International journal of environmental research and public health
Volume	16
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16040622
Publication status	Published - 2019 Feb 2

Keywords

Chronic diseases
Neighborhood
Older adult
Walkability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Pollution
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.3390/ijerph16040622

Cite this

@article{01b6c5fdf3e741419021639ff1d251a3,

title = "Walk score{\textregistered} and its associations with older adults{\textquoteright} health behaviors and outcomes",

abstract = "This study aimed to investigate the associations between Walk Score{\textregistered} and lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in older Taiwanese adults. A nationwide survey was conducted through telephone-based interviews with older adults (65 years and older) in Taiwan. Data on Walk Score{\textregistered}, lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, healthy eating behavior, alcohol use, and smoking status), health outcomes (overweight/obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease), and personal characteristics were obtained from 1052 respondents. A binary logistic regression adjusting for potential confounders was employed. None of the Walk Score{\textregistered} categories were related to the recommended levels of total physical activity. The categories “very walkable” and “walker{\textquoteright}s paradise” were positively related to total sedentary time and TV viewing among older adults. No significant associations were found between Walk Score{\textregistered} and other lifestyle health behaviors or health outcomes. While Walk Score{\textregistered} was not associated with recommended levels of physical activity, it was positively related to prolonged sedentary time in the context of a non-Western country. The different associations between the walk score and health lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in different contexts should be noted.",

keywords = "Chronic diseases, Neighborhood, Older adult, Walkability",

author = "Yung Liao and Lin, {Chien Yu} and Lai, {Ting Fu} and Chen, {Yen Ju} and Bohyeon Kim and Park, {Jong Hwan}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments: Liao received a personal grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 107-2410-H-003-117-MY2). The Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan was not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and 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). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

year = "2019",

month = feb,

day = "2",

doi = "10.3390/ijerph16040622",

language = "English",

volume = "16",

journal = "International journal of environmental research and public health",

issn = "1661-7827",

publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Walk score® and its associations with older adults’ health behaviors and outcomes

AU - Liao, Yung

AU - Lin, Chien Yu

AU - Lai, Ting Fu

AU - Chen, Yen Ju

AU - Kim, Bohyeon

AU - Park, Jong Hwan

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments: Liao received a personal grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 107-2410-H-003-117-MY2). The Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan was not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and 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). Publisher Copyright: © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2019/2/2

Y1 - 2019/2/2

N2 - This study aimed to investigate the associations between Walk Score® and lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in older Taiwanese adults. A nationwide survey was conducted through telephone-based interviews with older adults (65 years and older) in Taiwan. Data on Walk Score®, lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, healthy eating behavior, alcohol use, and smoking status), health outcomes (overweight/obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease), and personal characteristics were obtained from 1052 respondents. A binary logistic regression adjusting for potential confounders was employed. None of the Walk Score® categories were related to the recommended levels of total physical activity. The categories “very walkable” and “walker’s paradise” were positively related to total sedentary time and TV viewing among older adults. No significant associations were found between Walk Score® and other lifestyle health behaviors or health outcomes. While Walk Score® was not associated with recommended levels of physical activity, it was positively related to prolonged sedentary time in the context of a non-Western country. The different associations between the walk score and health lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in different contexts should be noted.

AB - This study aimed to investigate the associations between Walk Score® and lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in older Taiwanese adults. A nationwide survey was conducted through telephone-based interviews with older adults (65 years and older) in Taiwan. Data on Walk Score®, lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, healthy eating behavior, alcohol use, and smoking status), health outcomes (overweight/obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease), and personal characteristics were obtained from 1052 respondents. A binary logistic regression adjusting for potential confounders was employed. None of the Walk Score® categories were related to the recommended levels of total physical activity. The categories “very walkable” and “walker’s paradise” were positively related to total sedentary time and TV viewing among older adults. No significant associations were found between Walk Score® and other lifestyle health behaviors or health outcomes. While Walk Score® was not associated with recommended levels of physical activity, it was positively related to prolonged sedentary time in the context of a non-Western country. The different associations between the walk score and health lifestyle behaviors and health outcomes in different contexts should be noted.

KW - Chronic diseases

KW - Neighborhood

KW - Older adult

KW - Walkability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061972589&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85061972589&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/ijerph16040622

DO - 10.3390/ijerph16040622

M3 - Article

C2 - 30791631

AN - SCOPUS:85061972589

SN - 1661-7827

VL - 16

JO - International journal of environmental research and public health

JF - International journal of environmental research and public health

IS - 4

M1 - 622

ER -

Walk score® and its associations with older adults’ health behaviors and outcomes

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this