Using Objective and Subjective Measures of Neighborhood Greenness and Accessible Destinations for Understanding Walking Trips and BMI in Seattle, Washington

• Published in: American journal of health promotion Vol. 21; no. 4_suppl; pp. 371 - 379
• Main Authors: Tilt, Jenna H., Unfried, Thomas M., Roca, Belen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.03.2007
• Subjects: Body Mass Index; Cross-Sectional Studies; Environment Design; Female; Geographic Information Systems; Geography; Health Behavior; Health Promotion; Health Surveys; Humans; Male; Motor Activity; Personal Satisfaction; Plants; Residence Characteristics - classification; Walking - psychology; Washington; Washington; USA, Washington, Seattle; Manuscript format: research; Outcome measure: behavioral; Satisfaction; Research purpose: relationship testing; Health focus: fitness/physical activity; Accessible Destinations; Prevention Research; Walking; Study design: quasi-experimental; Strategy: built environment; Target population: adults; Target population circumstances: geographic location; Vegetation; Setting: local community
• ISSN: 0890-1171; 2168-6602
• DOI: 10.4278/0890-1171-21.4s.371

Purpose. Examine the influence of destinations within walking distance of a residence and vegetation on walking trips and body mass index (BMI). Design. Cross-sectional analysis of data from residences with varying accessibility and greenness. Setting. Seattle, Washington. Subjects. Stratified random sample of residents, stratified by accessibility and greenness. Response rate: 17.5%, 529 respondents. Measures. Accessibility and greenness were measured objectively by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Network Analysis and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), respectively. Self-reported destinations, natural features, walking trips, BMI, and importance of destinations were measured through a postal survey. Results. Objective accessibility were related to walking trips per month (r2 = .110, p < .0001), as was subjective greenness (r2 = .051, p < .0001), although objective measures of actual greenness were not. In areas with high accessibility, BMI was lower in areas that had high NDVI, or more greenness (r2 = .129428, model p < .0001; t-test of interaction p = .0257). Low NDVI areas were associated with overestimation of the number of destinations within walking distance (F1, 499 = 11.009, p < .001). Conclusions. Objective and subjective measurements of accessibility and greenness led to an understanding of variation among walking trips and BMI in different neighborhoods.