Neighbourhood walkability, daily steps and utilitarian walking in Canadian adults

Objectives: To estimate the associations of neighbourhood walkability (based on Geographic Information System (GIS)-derived measures of street connectivity, land use mix, and population density and the Walk Score) with self-reported utilitarian walking and accelerometer-assessed daily steps in Canadian adults.

Design: A cross-sectional analysis of data collected as part of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (2007-2009).

Setting: Home neighbourhoods (500 m polygonal street network buffers around the centroid of the participant's postal code) located in Atlantic Canada, Québec, Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia.

Participants: 5605 individuals participated in the survey. 3727 adults (≥18 years) completed a computer-assisted interview and attended a mobile clinic assessment. Analyses were based on those who had complete exposure, outcome and covariate data (n=2949).

Main exposure measures: GIS-derived walkability (based on land use mix, street connectivity and population density); Walk Score.

Main outcome measures: Self-reported utilitarian walking; accelerometer-assessed daily steps.

Results: No important relationship was observed between neighbourhood walkability and daily steps. Participants who reported more utilitarian walking, however, accumulated more steps (<1 h/week: 6613 steps/day, 95% CI 6251 to 6975; 1 to 5 h/week: 6768 steps/day, 95% CI 6420 to 7117; ≥6 h/week: 7391 steps/day, 95% CI 6972 to 7811). There was a positive graded association between walkability and odds of walking ≥1 h/week for utilitarian purposes (eg, Q4 vs Q1 of GIS-derived walkability: OR=1.66, 95% CI 1.31 to 2.11; Q3 vs Q1: OR=1.41, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.76; Q2 vs Q1: OR=1.13, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.39) independent of age, sex, body mass index, married/common law status, annual household income, having children in the household, immigrant status, mood disorder, perceived health, ever smoker and season.

Conclusions: Contrary to expectations, living in more walkable Canadian neighbourhoods was not associated with more total walking. Utilitarian walking and daily steps were, however, correlated and walkability demonstrated a positive graded relationship with utilitarian walking.