title: Associations Between Reasons to Go Outdoors and Objectively-Measured Walking Activity in Various Life-Space Areas Among Older People.
abstract: This cross-sectional study investigated associations between reasons to go outdoors and objectively-measured walking activity in various life-space areas among older people. During the study, 174 community-dwelling older people aged 75-90 from central Finland wore an accelerometer over seven days and recorded their reasons to go outdoors in an activity diary. The most common reasons for going outdoors were shopping, walking for exercise, social visits, and running errands. Activities done in multiple life-space areas contributed more to daily step counts than those done in the neighborhood or town and beyond. Those who went shopping or walked for exercise accumulated higher daily step counts than those who did not go outdoors for these reasons. These results show that shopping and walking for exercise are common reasons to go outdoors for community-dwelling older people and may facilitate walking activity in older age. Future studies on how individual trips contribute to the accumulation of steps are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Li-Tang
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Merja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rantakokko
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viljanen
authors.forename: Milla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saajanaho
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eronen
authors.forename: Taina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rantanen
authors.forename: Erja
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Portegijs
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*