Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: The ability to help mitigate prevalence of disability in the aging population may be developed by expanding the list of known risk factors to include environmental exposures. Understanding environmental risk factors for health is of public health importance. We contribute to these efforts by asking: Are attributes of the social and built residential environment able to explain between-people differences in gait speed? A cross-sectional analysis of relatively healthy community-dwelling older adults was conducted using baseline participants (n=2,637; female=52%; average age=74+2.89; Black=39%) from the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) Study. Performed 6 meter walk at usual gait speed was the outcome of interest. The associations between measures of the residential environment (tracts) and gait speed (meters per-second, m/sec) were assessed using linear regressions. After adjusting for socioeconomics, health behaviors and conditions, results indicated that neither street connectivity nor net residential density explained between-people variance in gait speed. Poverty concentration did explain between-people variance in gait speed. Living in a tract where a 30% or more of the residents are in-poverty is associated with a 0.02 m/sec slower gait speed when compared to living in a tract where poverty concentration is <9%. In this observational study, poverty concentration in residential environment was significantly associated with gait speed. Research should continue to explore if and how aspects of the residential environment may explain physical function differences among older adults.
Author: Carlos Siordia
Language: English
Subfield: Transportation
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1220827640