Recorded presentation

Olga Sarmiento, MD MPH PhD¹, Luis Gomez, MD MPH², and Diego Lucumi, MD MPH². (1) Department of Social Medicine & Centro de Estudios e Información en Salud, School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes and Fundación Santa Fe de Bogota, Calle 119 # 9-32, Bogota, Colombia, 57 (1) 6 19 02 80, osarmien@uniandes.edu.co, (2) Health Division, Fundación FES Social, Cra 7 # 73-55. Room 1202, Bogota, Colombia

Background:Bicycling or walking for transport can be important sources of moderate physical activity. However, there is limited knowledge about the influence of perceived-environmental factors on these activities, particularly in Latin-America. Methods: This study assessed the perceived-environmental factors associated with walking and bicycling for transport among a probability sample (N=1,159) representative of low and middle-income adults (18-29yrs) in Bogotá during the year 2003. A questionnaire assessed self-reported patterns of walking and bicycling for transport. Perceived environmental factors were from the environmental module from the International Physical Activity Prevalence Study. Results: 20% of adults reported bicycling only as a mean of transport for at least 10 minutes during the last 7 days. In contrast, 55.5% of adults reported walking only for transport for at least 90 minutes during the last 7 days. Bicycling was more likely among those who strongly agree that bike-paths in their neighborhoods are well maintained (adjusted prevalence odds ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.5 [1.0,2.4]) and those who use the “ciclovia” (main avenues are restricted for motor-vehicles on Sundays for recreational purposes) (4.0[2.4,6.6]) and less likely among those who live in neighborhoods characterized by detached-single-family residences (0.49[0.25,0.94]) and those who strongly agree that stores are within walking distance from their homes (0.40[0.22,0.72]). Walking was more likely among those who live more than 15 minutes from the bus stop (3.05[1.20,7.75]). Conclusions: Certain perceived environmental factors are associated with walking and bicycling. In particular the use of ciclovia influences positively bicycling; whereas some neighborhood-urban-design characteristics have opposite relation-ships with these activities.

Learning Objectives:

• Attendees will be able to identify the perceived environmental factors associated with bicycling and walking for transport among a representative sample of low-income and middle-income young adults residents of Bogotá.
• Promoting physical activity is also public health priority in Bogotá; therefore our research findings could be applied to develop programs to promote physical activity in this city and could guide research studies in other Latin America cities.
• To determine some of the factors related to the built environment that are associated with bicycling and walking for transport and that should be explored in further studies conducted in Bogotá and other Latin American cities.

Keywords: Physical Activity, Urban Health Services Barriers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation