【Original Article】

Association between Walking for Transportation/Recreation and Perceived
Neighborhood Environment among Aged 60-69 years in Fujisawa CityYoshinobu Saito1,2), Yuko Oguma2,3), Shigeru Inoue4), Ayumi Tanaka1,5), Lai Chienhao2) ,Yoshihiro Ogawa1), Ken Takahashi1), Kiyomi Suzuki1), Yoshitaka Kobori6)

Abstract
Objective: Recent studies suggested the importance of neighborhood environment as physical activity
determinants. However, most of these studies were conducted using young or middle-aged adult population. Inaddition, few studies have been investigated in Japan. The aim of this study was to examine the association ofwalking for transportation/recreation and perceived neighborhood environment among adults aged 60-69 years inFujisawa city.
Methods: The study included 1,917 adults aged 60-69 years in Fujisawa city National Health Insurance
beneficiaries, who had taken the Specific Health Checkups focused on metabolic syndrome (Tokutei Kenshin) in2009 and responded to a mailed cross-sectional survey in 2010. The health checkup data (body mass index; BMI),
sociodemographic attributes (age, education, employment status, household economy, self-rated health), the longversion of International Physical Activity Questionnaire and its Environment Module were obtained. The odds
ratio (OR) of walking for active transportation and walking for active recreation was calculated in relation toenvironmental characteristics and adjusted for sociodemographic attributes and BMI.
Results: Several perceived neighborhood environmental factors were associated with walking for transportation
and recreation in both men and women. Good access to shops (male: OR=1.64, female: OR=1.43), presence ofsidewalks (OR=1.35, OR=1.77) and no household motor vehicles (OR=2.56, OR=1.81) were associated withlonger walking time for transportation. Social environment (OR=1.67, OR=1.57) and aesthetics (OR=1.32,OR=1.40) were associated with longer walking time for recreation. Good access to public transport (OR=2.31) for
men and traffic safety (OR=0.73) for women were associated with longer walking time for transportation. And
good access to recreational facilities (OR=1.34) for women was associated with longer walking time fortransportation. Similar tendency was shown in men. Not owing household motor vehicles (OR=1.74) for men was
associated with longer walking time for recreation.
Conclusions: The association between walking and neighborhood environment were differed by purpose ofwalking (transportation and recreation) among aged 60-69 years. The difference between men and women, which
had been repeatedly reported in previous studies among adults, seemed small in the present study targeting theelderly. These findings include implications for environmental interventions to promote physical activity amongelderly.
Key words: walking, physical and social environment, aged, physical activity, ecological model1）Department of Health Promotion, Fujisawa City Health and Medical Center, Kanagawa, Japan2）Graduate School of Health Management, Keio University, Kanagawa, Japan
3）Sports Medicine Research Center, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan4）Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan5）Graduate School of Sports Science, Waseda University, Saitama, Japan6）Department of Medicine, Fujisawa City Health and Medical Center, Kanagawa, Japan