Influence of the built environment of Nanjing’s Urban Community on the leisure physical activity of the elderly: an empirical study

Abstract

BackgroundUrbanization and aging are global phenomena that offer unique challenges in different countries. A supportive environment plays an important role in addressing the issues of health behavioral change and health promotion (e.g., prevent chronic illnesses, promote mental health) among older adults. With the development of the socio-ecological theoretical model, studies on the impact of supportive environments on physical activity have become popular in the public health field in the EU and US. Meanwhile, very few Chinese studies have examined the relationship between built environment features and older adults’ physical activity at the ecological level. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the factors part of the built environment of Nanjing’s communities also influence leisure time physical activity among the elderly.MethodsUsing a socio-ecological model as a theoretical framework, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 399 elderly people from 19 communities in Nanjing, China, using a one-on-one questionnaire to collect data, including participants’ perceived built environment and self-reported physical activity. A multivariate linear regression method was used to analyze the factors influencing their recreational physical activity.ResultsThis study found that compared to older people with low average monthly income, the recreational physical activity of the elderly with average monthly incomes between 1001 and 2000 ¥ (β = 23.31, p < 0.001) and 2001 ¥ or more (β = 21.15, p < 0.001) are significantly higher. After controlling for individual covariates, street connectivity (β = 7.34, p = 0.030) and street pavement slope (β = − 7.72, p = 0.020), we found that two out of ten built environment factors indicators influence their physical activity. The importance of each influencing factor ranked from highest to lowest are monthly average income, street pavement slope, and street connectivity. Other factors were not significantly related to recreational physical activity by the elderly.ConclusionsOlder adults with a high income were more likely to participate in recreational physical activity than those with a low income. In order to positively impact physical activity in older adults and ultimately improve health, policymakers and urban planners need to ensure that street connectivity and street pavement slope are factored into the design and development of the urban environment.

Association of Built Environment with Physical Activity and Physical Fitness in Men and Women Living inside the City Wall of Xi’an, China

“…In our analysis of the relationship between BE and PA, BE attributes were related to total PA, transportation PA, and leisure time PA. This was consistent with the socio-ecological model [ 25 ] and several previous studies [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. For example, aesthetics was positively associated with total and leisure-time PA in men, indicating aesthetics can motivate residents to engage in more PA [ 32 ] and men were more likely to conduct leisure-time activities in aesthetically pleasing spaces [ 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”

“…In our studies, crime safety was negatively correlated with reaction time. This is similar to previous studies’ results that lower criminal activity will increase the chance of residents going out to exercise [ 25 , 53 ] so indirectly improving the reaction time. Our research also analyzed the relationship between BE and the curl-up test, and the results indicated that aesthetics was positively associated with the curl-up test in men, and street connectivity was positively associated with curl-up test in women.…”

The Influence of the Objective and Subjective Physical Neighbourhood Environment on the Physical Activity of Older Adults: A Case Study in the Malaysian Neighbourhoods of Johor Bahru

“…Conversely, respondents who perceived that there was a low street connectivity tended to have a PA of C1. While [24,56] suggested that perceived street connectivity was usually positively associated with a high PA in older adults, as pointed out in [25], low street connectivity hinders PA levels because the areas usually have longer rows of housing, less traffic intersections and a higher number of dead-end roads less conducive for walking; therefore, the results of this study add to existing knowledge.…”

“…Other studies have found that PNEO measures such as land use mix entropy [19][20][21], population density [19,21,22], traffic intersection density [13,[23][24][25][26] and proximity to recreation areas [26][27][28] influence the PA levels of older adults. While these types of PNEO measures are reliable in representing the objective physical characteristics of the neighbourhood environment that can strongly influence the PA level in older adults, in some cases, local considerations are also needed.…”

Relationship Between Physical Activity and the Availability of Exercise Facilities in an Urban Elderly Population: Cross-sectional Results from China

“…The increasing ageing of the population and the ensuing huge social and economic pressure have become a severe test for China's society today and will also in uence China for a long time in the future [1]. It is estimated that the number of elderly people aged > 60 years in China will increase from 15.5% (212 million) in 2014 to 28.0% (402 million) in 2040, and the number of elderly people aged > 80 years will increase from 22.6 million in 2013 to 90.4 million in 2050, allowing China to become the country with the largest number of elderly individuals in the world [2]. Considering the increasing ageing population and the fact that the prevalence of diseases is closely related to age, it is hypothesized that any increase in dysfunction will reduce the physical activity of the elderly.…”