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Affiliation
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School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To determine differences in walking for recreation and transport between Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) categories, in South Australian adults.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional self-reported data from adult telephone survey respondents between April and May in 2012 and 2013. SETTING: Population of South Australia. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 4004 adults (aged over 18 years) participated: n = 1956 men and n = 2048 women. Area of residence was categorised using ARIA (major city, inner regional, outer regional and remote/very remote). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Self-reported participation in walking for transport and recreation/exercise as the number of times and minutes per week. Data were analysed using Kruskal-Wallis test for median minutes and negative binomial regression for times walked with adjustment for socioeconomic status, age and body mass index.
RESULTS: Average age was 47.8 ± 18.5 years, 51.1% were women, 70.9% lived in the major cities, 14.6% in inner regional, 10.8% in outer regional and 3.6% in remote/very remote areas. Relative to major city, times walked for recreation was lower for only remote/very remote residents (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.74 (95%CI 0.59-0.92), P = 0.008). This difference was only observed for men (IRR 0.54 (95%CI 0.39-0.73), P < 0.001). Relative to major city, times walked for transport was less for inner regional (IRR 0.74 (95%CI 0.67-0.85), P < 0.001) and outer regional (IRR 0.64 (95%CI 0.56-0.74), P < 0.001) only. This difference in transport walking was seen in both men and women.
CONCLUSION: Frequency of walking varied by purpose, level of remoteness and sex. As walking is the focus of population-level health promotion, more detailed understanding of the aetiology of regular walking is needed.
© 2016 National Rural Health Alliance Inc.
Language: en |