Association between the National Walkability Index and Walking Among U.S. Adults

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Step It Up! The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities calls on Americans to work together to increase walking and improve walkability. No universal tool exists to measure community walkability; therefore, the Environmental Protection Agency created the National Walkability Index (NWI), a measure based on environmental features that affect the likelihood of whether people will walk as a mode of transportation. It is unknown, however, how strongly NWI is associated with transportation and leisure walking. PURPOSE: To describe the association between the NWI and transportation and leisure walking among U.S. adults. METHODS: We used data from the 2015 Cancer Control Supplement of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to assess adults’ past week participation in transportation and leisure walking for ≥10 minutes (n=33,672). NWI scores were linked to HIS data based on the block group of the respondent’s residence. NWI scores were categorized into national level quartiles. Logistic regression analyses were used to describe the association between NWI quartiles and transportation and leisure walking. RESULTS: NWI quartiles exhibited significant linear and quadratic trends (p<0.05) with transportation walking and a significant linear trend (p <0.05) with leisure walking. Prevalence of transportation walking increased 23 percentage points and leisure walking increased 5 percentage points from least to most walkable communities (see Table).Table: Prevalence of walking, adjusted for selected characteristics1, by National Walkability Index quartiles2CONCLUSIONS: NWI is a free and publicly available standardized tool to measure community walkability. Our findings suggest NWI is positively associated with transportation and leisure walking, although, the association was stronger for transportation walking. These findings may be useful to researchers and to public health, transportation, and planning professionals and other relevant stakeholders, as they promote transportation-related walking and walkability in communities.