BACKGROUND We investigate the association of different composite walkability measures with individual walking behaviors to determine if multicomponent metrics of walkability are more useful for assessing the health impacts of the built environment than single component measures. METHODS We use a previously published composite walkability measure as well as a new measure that was designed to r...

The role of neighborhood walkability and safety in mediating the association between education and physical activity has not been quantified. We used data from the 2010 and 2012 Communities Putting Prevention to Work Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and structural equation modeling to estimate how much of the effect of education level on physical activity was mediated by perceived nei...

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to examine whether residents living in neighborhoods that are less conducive to walking or other physical activities are more likely to develop diabetes and, if so, whether recent immigrants are particularly susceptible to such effects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We conducted a population-based, retrospective cohort study to assess the impact of neighborhood...

BACKGROUND Individual-level studies support a positive relation between walkable built environments and participation in moderate-intensity walking. However, the utility of this evidence for population-level planning is less clear as it is derived at much finer spatial scales than those used for regional programming. The aims of this study were to: evaluate if individual-level relations between...

INTRODUCTION Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and disproportionately affects racial/ethnic minority groups. Healthy neighborhood conditions are associated with increased uptake of health behaviors that reduce CVD risk, but minority neighborhoods often have poor food access and poor walkability. This study tested the community-driven hypothesis that...

BACKGROUND The built environment may influence health in part through the promotion of physical activity and exposure to pollution. To date, no studies have explored interactions between neighborhood walkability and air pollution exposure. METHODS We estimated concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), a marker for direct vehicle emissions), and ozone (O(3)) and a neighborhood walkability score, fo...

BACKGROUND Adequate knowledge on environmental correlates of physical activity (PA) in older adults is needed to develop effective health promotion initiatives. However, research in this age group is scarce and most existing studies were conducted in North America. The present study aimed to examine relationships between GIS-based neighborhood walkability and objective and self-reported PA in c...

BACKGROUND In promoting physical activity, it is important to gain insight into environmental factors that facilitate or hinder physical activity and factors that may influence this environment-behavior relationship. As the personality factor of action orientation reflects an individual's capacity to regulate behavior it may act as a moderator in the environment-behavior relationship. The curre...

Little is known about the relationship between objectively measured walkability and walking for exercise among adults with diabetes. Information regarding walking behavior of adults with diabetes residing in 3 Upstate New York counties was collected through an interview survey. Walkability measures were collected through an environmental audit of a sample of street segments. Overall walkability...

Methods We evaluated the association between neighbourhood walkability and incident childhood asthma using prospectively-collected administrative data at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Among the 1997-2003 birth cohorts of children living in Toronto, neighbourhood quintile of walkability was reported using a validated walkability index with 4 dimensions: population density, dwel...