Low neighborhood walkability is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease: Study
Low neighbourhood walkability is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to research presented today at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2025,1 a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
The health benefits of physical activity are well established and yet more than a quarter of adults do not meet the recommended guideline of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. “Neighbourhoods designed to be walkable may help residents to choose active transportation, such as commute walking, rather than sedentary modes of travel like driving, and allow increased physical activity to be incorporated into daily life,” said presenter Dr. Erik Timmermans of University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands. Neighbourhood walkability can be defined as a composite measure of built environment characteristics that facilitate walking, with consideration of factors including land use mix, population density and green space density. “Evidence on the relationship between walkability and CVD is scarce and largely relies on cross-sectional studies. We conducted a longitudinal study to capture changes in walkability over time and relate them to CVD incidence in later years,” noted Dr. Timmermans.
The analysis included data from Statistics Netherlands for all 3,019,069 Dutch residents aged 40 years or older at baseline (2009), without a history of CVD and who did not move house after baseline. A nationwide, objectively measured walkability index was calculated for 500 m areas around their residential addresses. In this study, the walkability index consisted of six components: population density, retail and service density, land use mix, intersection density, green space density and sidewalk density, with geographical data provided by the Geoscience and Health Cohort Consortium. Latent class trajectory modelling was used to assess walkability changes over a 13-year period, from 1996 to 2008.
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