Objectives: We estimated associations between objectively determined neighbourhood 'walkability' attributes and accelerometer-derived sedentary time (ST) by sex, city or type of day.
Design: A cross-sectional study.
Setting: The URBAN (Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods) study was conducted in 48 neighbourhoods across four cities in New Zealand (August 2008 to October 2010).
Participants: The response rate was 41% (2029 recruited participants/5007 eligible households approached). In total, 1762 participants (aged 41.4±12.1, mean±SD) met the data inclusion criteria and were included in analyses.
Primary and secondary outcome measures: The exposure variables were geographical information system (GIS) measures of neighbourhood walkability (ie, street connectivity, residential density, land-use mix, retail footprint area ratio) for street network buffers of 500 m and 1000 m around residential addresses. Participants wore an accelerometer for 7 days. The outcome measure was average daily minutes of ST.
Results: Data were available from 1762 participants (aged 41.4±12.1 years; 58% women). No significant main effects of GIS-based neighbourhood walkability measures were found with ST. Retail footprint area ratio was negatively associated with sedentary time in women, significant only for 500 m residential buffers. An increase of 1 decile in street connectivity was significantly associated with a decrease of over 5 min of ST per day in Christchurch residents for both residential buffers.
Conclusion: Neighbourhoods with proximal retail and higher street connectivity seem to be associated with less ST. These effects were sex and city specific.
Keywords: Epidemiology; Preventive Medicine; Public Health; Social Medicine.
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