Social and environmental predictors of walking among older adults

Ory, Marcia G.; Towne, Samuel D.; Won, Jaewoong; Forjuoh, Samuel N.; Lee, Chanam

doi:10.1186/s12877-016-0327-x

BMC Geriatrics

Table 1 Study characteristics by walking levels for any purpose per week

From: Social and environmental predictors of walking among older adults

		Total		Frequent walker versus non-frequent walker					Meeting the CDC recommended guidelines for physical activity versus not
		Total		Having at least 3 days of walking for any purpose		Not Having at least 3 days of walking for any purpose			Having at least 150 min of walking for any purpose		Not Having at least 150 min of walking for any purpose
		n	Percent	n	Percent	n	Percent	p-value	n	Percent	n	Percent	p-value
Demographic
Education	High school or less	65	23.99	31	11.52	33	12.27	0.8026	12	4.60	49	18.77	<.0001
	More than high school	206	76.01	127	47.21	78	29.00	0.0006	61	23.37	139	53.26	<.0001
Sex	Male	135	49.63	85	31.48	50	18.52	0.0026	38	14.50	94	35.88	<.0001
	Female	137	50.37	74	27.41	61	22.59	0.2632	35	13.36	95	36.26	<.0001
Age	60–69 years	142	52.21	79	29.26	63	23.33	0.1794	33	12.60	104	39.69	<.0001
	70+	130	47.79	80	29.63	48	17.78	0.0047	40	15.27	85	32.44	<.0001
Race	Minority	41	15.13	22	8.18	19	7.06	0.6394	11	4.21	26	9.96	0.0137
	White	230	84.87	136	50.56	92	34.20	0.0036	62	23.75	162	62.07	<.0001
Health
Number of days of poor physical health (past 30 days)	At/above 2 days	71	26.20	42	15.56	28	10.37	0.0943	14	5.36	56	21.46	<.0001
	1 or fewer	200	73.80	117	43.33	83	30.74	0.0162	59	22.61	132	50.57	<.0001
Number of days of poor mental health (past 30 days)	At/above 2 days	72	26.47	29	10.74	42	15.56	0.1229	10	3.82	61	23.28	<.0001
	1 or fewer	200	73.53	130	48.15	69	25.56	<.0001	63	24.05	128	48.85	<.0001
Worried about falling when walking in neighborhood	Yes	45	16.54	20	7.41	25	9.26	0.4561	9	3.44	31	11.83	0.0005
	No	227	83.46	139	51.48	86	31.85	0.0004	64	24.43	158	60.31	<.0001
Social
Marital status	Single	62	22.96	29	10.82	33	12.31	0.6115	10	3.85	47	18.08	<.0001
	Married	208	77.04	128	47.76	78	29.10	0.0005	63	24.23	140	53.85	<.0001
Social support for walking (dog &/or person to walk with)	Yes to none	84	30.88	39	14.44	44	16.30	0.5831	16	6.11	65	24.81	<.0001
	Yes to one	134	49.26	82	30.37	51	18.89	0.0072	36	13.74	92	35.11	<.0001
	Yes to both	54	19.85	38	14.07	16	5.93	0.0028	21	8.02	32	12.21	0.1308
Neighborhood cohesion	Low	96	35.29	45	16.67	50	18.52	0.6080	22	8.40	67	25.57	<.0001
	Moderate	104	38.24	59	21.85	44	16.30	0.1394	24	9.16	79	30.15	<.0001
	High	72	26.47	55	20.37	17	6.30	<.0001	27	10.31	43	16.41	0.0558
Median age (census tract)	At/Lower than the median	146	53.68	93	34.44	51	18.89	0.0005	45	17.18	91	34.73	<.0001
	Higher than the median	126	46.32	66	24.44	60	22.22	0.5930	28	10.69	98	37.40	<.0001
Positive environmental perceptions of safety	Low	30	11.03	18	6.67	12	4.44	0.2733	10	3.82	18	6.87	0.1306
	Moderate	43	15.81	25	9.26	18	6.67	0.2858	11	4.20	31	11.83	0.0020
	High	199	73.16	116	42.96	81	30.00	0.0126	52	19.85	140	53.44	<.0001

N = 272 with less than 5 % variation for missing data
Cell sizes and percentages reflect each control variable by the each of the two outcome variables of interest. For example, with education across the outcome meeting/not meeting the CDC recommended physical activity: 12 (4.60 %) + 49 (18.77 %) + 61 (23.37 %) + 139 (53.26 %) total 100 %. Bivariate logistic analyses (not shown) revealed that poor mental health, fears about falling, marital status, social support for walking, neighborhood cohesion, and median age (census tract-level) variables were significantly (p < .05) associated with frequent walking behaviors. Additionally, poor mental health days, marital status, social support for walking, and neighborhood cohesion variables were significantly (p < .05) associated with meeting CDC guidelines

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ISSN: 1471-2318

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