title: The environmental correlates of overall and neighborhood based recreational walking (a cross-sectional analysis of the RECORD Study).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preliminary evidence suggests that recreational walking has different environmental determinants than utilitarian walking. However, previous studies are limited in their assessment of environmental exposures and recreational walking and in the applied modeling strategies. Accounting for individual sociodemographic profiles and weather over the walking assessment period, the study examined whether numerous street network-based neighborhood characteristics related to the sociodemographic, physical, service, social-interactional, and symbolic environments were associated with overall recreational walking and recreational walking in one's residential neighborhood and could explain their spatial distribution.
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on the RECORD Cohort Study (Paris region, France, n=7105, 2007-2008 data), multilevel-spatial regression analyses were conducted to investigate environmental factors associated with recreational walking (evaluated by questionnaire at baseline). A risk score approach was applied to quantify the overall disparities in recreational walking that were predicted by the environmental determinants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-nine percent of the participants reported recreational walking over the past 7 days. Their mean reported recreational walking time was 3h 31mn. After individual-level adjustment, a higher neighborhood education, a higher density of destinations, green and open spaces of quality, and the absence of exposure to air traffic were associated with higher odds of recreational walking and/or a higher recreational walking time in one's residential neighborhood. As the overall disparities that were predicted by these environmental factors, the odds of reporting recreational walking and the odds of a higher recreational walking time in one's neighborhood were, respectively, 1.59 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.56, 1.62] times and 1.81 (95% CI: 1.73, 1.87) times higher in the most vs. the least supportive environments (based on the quartiles).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Providing green/open spaces of quality, building communities with services accessible from the residence, and addressing environmental nuisances such as those related to air traffic may foster recreational walking in one's environment.
authors.affiliation: Inserm, U707, 27 rue Chaligny, 75012 Paris, France. chaix@u707.jussieu.fr.
authors.forename: Basile
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chaix
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Charreire
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kestens
authors.forename: Noëlla
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Karusisi
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vallée
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Oppert
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pannier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010297:Paris; D011998:Recreation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*