Od environment and physical activity. Methods: Participants were 1623 adults aged 20 to 97 yr divided into five groups: ages 20-39, 40-49, 50-65, 66-75, and 76+. They were recruited from King County/Seattle, WA, neighborhoods selected to vary in land use and median income. Participants completed questionnaires about neighborhood environment attributes and walking for transportation and for leisure purposes. Neighborhood environment, within a 15- to 20-min walk from home, was measured on nine attributes with the validated Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale questionnaire: residential density, proximity to nonresidential land uses, ease of access to nonresidential uses, street connectivity, walking/cycling facilities, esthetics, pedestrian traffic safety, crime safety, and proximity to recreation facilities. Participants reported frequency and duration of walking using the validated International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors. Partial correlations were computed, adjusting for demographics. Results: Walking for transportation was significantly related to multiple perceived neighborhood attributes in all age groups, although walking for leisure was not. Walking for transportation was significantly related to almost all neighborhood environment variables in the youngest age group. In contrast, only two environmental attributes, proximity to nonresidential uses (like shops) and recreation facilities, were moderately correlated with walking for transportation in the two oldest groups. Conclusion: Communities need to be designed with many favorable environmental attributes to support walking for transportation among younger adults. Having nonresidential destinations and recreation facilities within walking distance may be among the most important attributes to support older adults' physical activity....

Objective: to determine the effect of dance‐based aerobic exercise on indices of falling in older women. Design: an exercise intervention trial with participants assigned either to an exercise group or to a control group. Setting: an exercise hall at a community centre for senior citizens. Participants: thirty‐eight healthy women aged 72–87 years, living independently in the community. Intervention: twenty women performed dance‐based aerobic exercise for 60 minutes, 3 days a week, for 12 weeks. The exercise included single‐leg standing, squatting, marching, and heel touching; and targeted balance, strength, locomotion/agility, and motor processing. Main outcome measures: single‐leg balance with eyes open/closed and functional reach as balance, hand‐grip strength and keeping a half‐squat position as strength, walking time around two cones and 3‐minute walking distance as locomotion/agility, and hand‐reaction time and foot tapping as motor processing. Results: at the pre‐test, both exercise and control groups performed similarly in all tests. At the end of the intervention, the exercise group showed significantly greater single‐leg balance with eyes closed, functional reach, and walking time around two cones. In contrast, there were no significant improvements in any of the test measures in the control group. Conclusions: dance‐based aerobic exercise specifically designed for older women may improve selected components of balance and locomotion/agility, thereby attenuating risks of falling.

Background. Decreased fitness of the lower extremities is a potentially modifiable fall risk factor. This study aimed to compare two exercise programs—square-stepping exercise (SSE), which is a low-cost indoor program, and walking—for improving the fitness of the lower extremities. Methods. We randomly allocated 68 community-dwelling older adults (age 65–74 years) to either the SSE or walking group (W group). During the 12-week regimen, the SSE group participated in 70-minute exercise sessions conducted twice a week at a local health center, and the W group participated in outdoor supervised walking sessions conducted weekly. The W group was instructed to increase the number of daily steps. Prior to and after the program, we obtained information on 11 physical performance tests for known fall risk factors and 3 self-reported scales. The fall incidence was followed-up for 8 months. Results. At 12 weeks postregimen, significant differences were observed between the two exercise groups with respect to leg power (1 item), balance (2 items), agility (2 items), reaction time (2 items), and a self-reported scale (1 item); the SSE group demonstrated a marked improvement in the above-mentioned items with Group × Time interactions. Significant time effects were observed in the tests involving chair stands, functional reach, and standing up from a lying-down position without Group × Time interactions. During the follow-up period, the fall rates per person-year in the SSE and W groups were 23.4% and 33.3%, respectively (p =.31). Conclusion. Although further studies are required, SSE is apparently more effective than walking in reducing fall risk factors, and it appears that it may be recommended as a health promotion exercise in older adults.