Major environments for active elderly people in United States

Evidences showed that older American who lack of physical activity (PA) always suffered from many chronic diseases. However, in US, many older Americans are inactive and there has been no improvement in the PA level over the past decade. To promote active elderly population, the investigation of the environments related with PA level should be focused. Objective: To examine the environmental factors related with PA level in elderly people across the country. Methods: 2007 BRFSS was obtained and linked with external environmental data from US Census Bureau, USDA and NORSIS databases. Ordinal logistic regressions were analyzed. Population sample is elderly people age 60 years and more. Outcome is PA level as 1-meet PA, 2-insufficient PA, 3-no PA. Predictor environmental variables measured as a county scale are natural amenity, the availability of outdoor activity resources, the availability of green spaces, the availability of local facilities, educational context, percentage of people in poverty, urbanization level. Results: After adjusting socio-demographic factors, diet behavior, health conditions and geographic region, the results showed that green spaces and urbanization level are the significant environments related with the PA level. Elderly people living in a county with more green spaces are more likely to have higher PA than those living in the poorer green spaces. Besides, elderly people living in metro area are most likely to have the lower PA level comparing with elderly living in rural area. To promote active elderly US, the development of green spaces specifically in the metro area need to be considered.