A limited number of studies have used objective measures to examine the associations between the built environment and physical activity (PA) among older adults. This study aimed to examine geographic information systems-derived neighborhood walkability attributes and accelerometer measured PA in older adults. Data were collected from 124 older Taiwanese adults aged over 60 years (mean age: 69.9). Adjusted multiple linear regression was performed to explore the associations between five neighborhood walkability factors (population density, street connectivity, sidewalk availability, access to destinations, and public transportation) and five metrics of accelerometer-measured physical activity (total PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA, light PA, long moderate-to-vigorous PA bouts, and daily step counts). After adjusting for potential confounders, we found that greater sidewalk availability was positively associated with daily step counts in older adults (β = 0.165; 95% confidence interval: 0.006, 0.412; P = 0.043). No associations between other neighborhood environment attributes and PA metrics were observed. In conclusion, high sidewalk availability in the neighborhood may be supportive for older adults’ daily step counts. Further longitudinal research is needed to establish the causality between the built environment and objectively measured PA in older adults.

Few studies on older populations consider several energy balance-related behaviors together. This cross-sectional study compared subjectively and objectively measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) patterns between older adults with and without a healthy diet. We recruited 127 community-dwelling older Taiwanese adults (69.9 ± 5.0 years); data were collected during April and September 2018. Objectively measured total PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA, light PA, step count, total sedentary time, duration of sedentary bouts, number of sedentary bouts, and number of sedentary breaks were assessed using activity monitors. Subjectively measured PA and SB were measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire for Older Adults. Chi-square tests and independent sample t-tests were performed. For subjective measures, older adults without a healthy diet spent significantly less total leisure time on PA and more leisure sitting time than those with a healthy diet. For objective measures, older adults without a healthy diet spent less time on light PA and had a higher total sedentary time, duration of sedentary bouts, times of sedentary bouts, and times of sedentary breaks than those with a healthy diet. Regardless of the use of objective or subjective measurements, older adults without a healthy diet engaged in a more inactive and sedentary lifestyle. These findings have implications for health promotion practitioners in designing tailored interventions.

In this study, we examined excessive online gaming by adolescents and the resultant effects of their exposure to the online marketing of energy drinks and alcohol, and whether marketing literacy could serve as a mitigating factor. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020. Data were obtained from a sample of 2613 seventh-grade students from 30 middle schools in Taiwan. A self-administered questionnaire was conducted. The results showed that nearly 18% of the adolescent respondents had used energy drinks, while 75% reported seeing energy-drink advertisements on the internet in the past year. Multiple regression results indicated that factors such as being male, reporting excessive gaming, being exposed to higher levels of online energy-drink marketing, and reporting alcohol use were positively associated with energy-drink consumption. A higher level of online energy-drink marketing-affective literacy, however, was negatively associated with energy-drink consumption. In conclusion, factors that predicted energy-drink consumption among adolescents included excessive gaming and exposure to online energy-drink marketing, but marketing-affective literacy tended to lessen the impact of such advertising.