title: Associations of leisure-time sitting in cars with neighborhood walkability.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Too much sitting, including time spent sitting in cars, is associated with poor health outcomes. Identifying the built-environment attributes that may reduce vehicular sitting time can inform future initiatives linking the public health, urban design, and transportation sectors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data collected in 2003-2004 from adult residents (n = 2521) of Adelaide, Australia were used. Logistic regression analyses examined associations of prolonged time spent sitting in cars during leisure time (30 min/day or more) with neighborhood walkability and its components (dwelling density; intersection density; land use mix; net retail area ratio).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lower overall walkability was significantly associated with a higher odds (OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.21-1.70) of spending prolonged time in cars. For analyses with walkability components, lower net retail area ratio, lower residential density, and lower intersection density were significantly associated with prolonged sitting in cars.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study found that residents of high walkable neighborhoods tended to spend less time sitting in cars. In particular, higher net retail area ratio, an indicator of tightly spaced commercial areas, was strongly associated with less time in cars. Policy and planning initiatives to reduce car use require further evidence, particularly on the influence of neighborhood retail areas.
authors.affiliation: Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Australia; the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia; and the Behavioural Epidemiology Laboratory, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Koohsari
authors.forename: Takemi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Kaczynski
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Owen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001336:Automobiles; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014739:Victoria; D016138:Walking