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Outdoor physical activity and self rated health in older adults living in two regions of the U.S.
Kerr, Jacqueline Sallis, James F. Saelens, Brian E. Cain, Kelli L. Conway, Terry L. Frank, Lawrence D. King, Abby C.
Kerr, Jacqueline
Sallis, James F.
Saelens, Brian E.
Cain, Kelli L.
Conway, Terry L.
Frank, Lawrence D.
King, Abby C.
Abstract
Background: Older adults spend little time outdoors and many are physically inactive. The relationship between outdoor physical activity and self rated health has not been studied in older adults. This paper aimed to assess the relation of location of physical activity to self rated health and physical activity minutes. This was an observational study of ambulatory adults 66 years and older conducted in 2005–2008. Participants (N = 754) completed survey measures of physical activity location and self rated health, and wore an accelerometer to objectively assess physical activity. A mixed model linear regression procedure adjusted for neighborhood clustering effects. Differences in self rated health and physical activity minutes were compared across three physical activity settings (indoor only, outdoor only, both indoor and outdoor). Results: Minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity were significantly greater in those who were physically active at least once a week outdoors compared with those who were physically active indoors only. Self rated health was significantly related to being physically active but did not vary by location of activity. Conclusions: Older adults who were physically active outdoors accumulated significantly more physical activity, but self-rated health was not significantly greater than those being physically active indoors.
Keywords
built environment, accelerometers, quality of life, exercise
Date
2012
Type
Journal article
Journal
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Book
Volume
9
Issue
Page Range
1-4
Article Number
ACU Department
Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Open access
License
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2012 Kerr et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.