IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i4p622-d207661.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Walk Score ® and Its Associations with Older Adults’ Health Behaviors and Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Yung Liao

    (Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Heping East Road Section 1, Taipei 106, Taiwan)

  • Chien-Yu Lin

    (Institute of Health Behaviors and Community Sciences, National Taiwan University, 17, Xuzhou Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan)

  • Ting-Fu Lai

    (Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Heping East Road Section 1, Taipei 106, Taiwan)

  • Yen-Ju Chen

    (Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Heping East Road Section 1, Taipei 106, Taiwan)

  • Bohyeon Kim

    (Health Behaviors & Disease Prevention Research Group, Institute of Convergence Bio-Health, Dong-A University, Busan 49201, Korea)

  • Jong-Hwan Park

    (Health Behaviors & Disease Prevention Research Group, Institute of Convergence Bio-Health, Dong-A University, Busan 49201, Korea)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Yung Liao & Chien-Yu Lin & Ting-Fu Lai & Yen-Ju Chen & Bohyeon Kim & Jong-Hwan Park, 2019. "Walk Score ® and Its Associations with Older Adults’ Health Behaviors and Outcomes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:4:p:622-:d:207661
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/4/622/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/4/622/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bradley Bereitschaft, 2018. "Walk Score® versus residents’ perceptions of walkability in Omaha, NE," Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 412-435, October.
    2. Chien-Yu Lin & Yung Liao & Jong-Hwan Park, 2017. "Association of Motorcycle Use with Risk of Overweight in Taiwanese Urban Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-8, April.
    3. Van Dyck, Delfien & Cerin, Ester & Conway, Terry L. & De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse & Owen, Neville & Kerr, Jacqueline & Cardon, Greet & Frank, Lawrence D. & Saelens, Brian E. & Sallis, James F., 2012. "Associations between perceived neighborhood environmental attributes and adults’ sedentary behavior: Findings from the USA, Australia and Belgium," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(9), pages 1375-1384.
    4. Perdue, W.C. & Stone, L.A. & Gostin, L.O., 2003. "The Built Environment and Its Relationship to the Public's Health: The Legal Framework," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1390-1394.
    5. Yung Liao & I-Ting Wang & Hsiu-Hua Hsu & Shao-Hsi Chang, 2015. "Perceived Environmental and Personal Factors Associated with Walking and Cycling for Transportation in Taiwanese Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-15, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Zhehao & Wang, Haiming & Fisher, Thomas, 2024. "The development, validation, and application of the campus walk score measurement system," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 40-54.
    2. Letizia Appolloni & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2023. "Neighborhoods’ Walkability for Elderly People: An Italian Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Eun Jung Kim & Jiyeong Kim & Hyunjung Kim, 2020. "Neighborhood Walkability and Active Transportation: A Correlation Study in Leisure and Shopping Purposes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ming-Chun Hsueh & Yung Liao & Shao-Hsi Chang, 2016. "Perceived Neighborhood and Home Environmental Factors Associated with Television Viewing among Taiwanese Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-12, July.
    2. Eun Jung Kim & Suin Jin, 2023. "Walk Score and Neighborhood Walkability: A Case Study of Daegu, South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-12, February.
    3. Chien-Yu Lin & Jong-Hwan Park & Ming-Chun Hsueh & Wen-Jung Sun & Yung Liao, 2018. "Prevalence of Total Physical Activity, Muscle-Strengthening Activities, and Excessive TV Viewing among Older Adults; and Their Association with Sociodemographic Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-9, November.
    4. Katherine King, 2013. "Jane Jacobs and ‘The Need for Aged Buildings’: Neighbourhood Historical Development Pace and Community Social Relations," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(12), pages 2407-2424, September.
    5. Veerle Van Holle & Sarah A. McNaughton & Megan Teychenne & Anna Timperio & Delfien Van Dyck & Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij & Jo Salmon, 2014. "Social and Physical Environmental Correlates of Adults’ Weekend Sitting Time and Moderating Effects of Retirement Status and Physical Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-21, September.
    6. Timothy Gustavo Cavazzotto & Enio Ricardo Vaz Ronque & Edgar Ramos Vieira & Marcos Roberto Queiroga & Helio Serassuelo Junior, 2020. "Social-Ecological Correlates of Regular Leisure-Time Physical Activity Practice among Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-15, May.
    7. H. Pallubinsky & R. P. Kramer & W. D. Marken Lichtenbelt, 2023. "Establishing resilience in times of climate change—a perspective on humans and buildings," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(10), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Haozhe Zhang & Jinyi Li, 2024. "Mapping the urban and rural planning response paths to pandemics of infectious diseases," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Siqin Wang & Yan Liu & Jack Lam & Zhe Gao, 2021. "Chronic Illness, Subjective Wellbeing, and Health Services Availability: A Study of Older Adults in Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-15, July.
    10. Hao Huang, 2022. "Moderating Effects of Racial Segregation on the Associations of Cardiovascular Outcomes with Walkability in Chicago Metropolitan Area," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-14, October.
    11. Nestor Asiamah & Kofi Awuviry-Newton & Whitney Nesser & Evelyn N. Alvarez, 2023. "Carbon Footprints of Active and Non-Active Transport Modes: Hierarchy and Intergenerational Narrative Analyses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-16, August.
    12. Kaniz Fatima & Sara Moridpour & Tayebeh Saghapour, 2022. "Measuring Neighbourhood Walking Access for Older Adults," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Danan Gu & Haiyan Zhu & Ming Wen, 2015. "Neighborhood-health links: Differences between rural-to-urban migrants and natives in Shanghai," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(17), pages 499-524.
    14. Lorenzo Capasso & Daniela D’Alessandro, 2021. "Housing and Health: Here We Go Again," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-9, November.
    15. Fujiwara, Takeo & Takamoto, Iseki & Amemiya, Airi & Hanazato, Masamichi & Suzuki, Norimichi & Nagamine, Yuiko & Sasaki, Yuri & Tani, Yukako & Yazawa, Aki & Inoue, Yosuke & Shirai, Kokoro & Shobugawa, , 2017. "Is a hilly neighborhood environment associated with diabetes mellitus among older people? Results from the JAGES 2010 study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 45-51.
    16. Diana Marina Camargo & Paula Camila Ramírez & Rogério César Fermino, 2017. "Individual and Environmental Correlates to Quality of Life in Park Users in Colombia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-10, October.
    17. Jiemei Luo & Edwin H. W. Chan & Jinfeng Du & Linxia Feng & Peng Jiang & Ying Xu, 2022. "Developing a Health-Spatial Indicator System for a Healthy City in Small and Midsized Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-20, March.
    18. Alexandra Alexandropoulou & Andreas Fousteris & Eleni Didaskalou & Sotiris Bersimis & Dimitrios Georgakellos, 2023. "Urban Health in Urban Planning—Exploring the Status: A Survey in Greek Local Authorities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-15, August.
    19. Javier Molina-García & Cristina Menescardi & Isaac Estevan & Vladimir Martínez-Bello & Ana Queralt, 2019. "Neighborhood Built Environment and Socioeconomic Status are Associated with Active Commuting and Sedentary Behavior, but not with Leisure-Time Physical Activity, in University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-12, August.
    20. Vladimir Reshetnikov & Oleg Mitrokhin & Elena Belova & Victor Mikhailovsky & Maria Mikerova & Ali Alsaegh & Irina Yakushina & Valery Royuk, 2021. "Indoor Environmental Quality in Dwellings and Lifestyle Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Russian Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-9, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:4:p:622-:d:207661. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.