Are Neighborhood Environmental Attributes More Important for Older than for Younger Adults' Walking? Testing Effect Modification by Age.

We examined whether the associations of objectively-measured environmental attributes (Walk Score; street connectivity) with walking for transport differed between younger- (25-44 years), middle- (45-64 years), and older-aged (65-84 years) adults, using a large of Australian sample of 14,656. Walk Score and street connectivity were similarly associated with walking (any; 30+ min/day) in all age groups. Contrary to commonly held views, the study did not find any evidence suggesting that older adults may be more sensitive to their environment to get out and walk than are younger adults, at least for the environmental attributes examined in this study. Further research is needed to investigate if there are particular environmental factors that hinder older adults from being active. PMID: 30160570 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Journal of Aging and Physical Activity - Category: Geriatrics Tags: J Aging Phys Act Source Type: research