Geographic Correlates of Fitness and Cardiovascular Health in a Training Intervention Among Older Adults

Abstract

0511 Where a person lives is not usually thought of as an important predictor of their health. Lifestyle and genetic explanations predominateFinevertheless, where someone lives may differ in many aspects potentially related to health. Purpose: To determine differences between access to physical activity facilities, and changes in VO2max, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and BMI following a 12-month community-based physical activity intervention (STEP). Methods: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to map subject dwelling and community physical activity facilities for 41 older (x age = 73+/−3 y; 19 male; 22 female) adults who completed a 12-month physical activity intervention as part of a larger RCT (Step Test Exercise Prescription) of 360 older adults across Canada. Physical activity facilities (parks, walking paths, health clubs etc) were identified on digitized maps for the city of London, Ontario and corroborated by telephone directory and GPS. All distances were compared to primary clinical outcomes including VO2max, SBP and BMI. Subjects were grouped according to whether they maintained/improved (responders) or declined (non-responders) in fitness compared to the group mean change after 12-months. Results: At baseline, subjects who were closer than the group mean to aggregate facilities tended to have higher VO2max, lower SBP and BMI while no pattern for individual facilities was observed. After the STEP intervention, Responders tended to show a smaller increase in SBP and BMI and were closer to aggregate facilities, walking paths and open playing fields. Conclusion: Subjects with closer proximity to physical activity facilities showed higher VO2max and favorable SBP and BMI profile while those who improved VO2max, had less SBP and BMI increase following a 12- month intervention tended to live closer to physical activity opportunities.Table