The Association between Belgian Older Adults' Physical Functioning and Physical Activity: What Is the Moderating Role of the Physical Environment?

BACKGROUND:Better physical functioning in the elderly may be associated with higher physical activity levels. Since older adults spend a substantial part of the day in their residential neighborhood, the neighborhood physical environment may moderate associations between functioning and older adults' physical activity. The present study investigated the moderating role of the objective and perceived physical environment on associations between Belgian older adults' physical functioning and transport walking, recreational walking, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. METHODS:Data from 43... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Veerle Van Holle
Jelle Van Cauwenberg
Freja Gheysen
Delfien Van Dyck
Benedicte Deforche
Nico Van de Weghe
Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
Reihe/Periodikum: PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 2, p e0148398 (2016)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Schlagwörter: Medicine / R / Science / Q
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26924633
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148398

BACKGROUND:Better physical functioning in the elderly may be associated with higher physical activity levels. Since older adults spend a substantial part of the day in their residential neighborhood, the neighborhood physical environment may moderate associations between functioning and older adults' physical activity. The present study investigated the moderating role of the objective and perceived physical environment on associations between Belgian older adults' physical functioning and transport walking, recreational walking, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. METHODS:Data from 438 older adults were included. Objective physical functioning was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery. Potential moderators included objective neighborhood walkability and perceptions of land use mix diversity, access to recreational facilities, access to services, street connectivity, physical barriers for walking, aesthetics, crime-related safety, traffic speeding-related safety, and walking infrastructure. Transport and recreational walking were self-reported, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed through accelerometers. Multi-level regression analyses were conducted using MLwiN to examine two-way interactions between functioning and the environment on both walking outcomes. Based on a previous study where environment x neighborhood income associations were found for Belgian older adults' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, three-way functioning x environment x income interactions were examined for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. RESULTS:Objectively-measured walkability moderated the association between functioning and transport walking; this positive association was only present in high-walkable neighborhoods. Moreover, a three-way interaction was observed for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Only in high-income, high-walkable neighborhoods, there was a positive association between functioning and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. No functioning x walkability ...