Examining the relationships between walkability and physical activity among older persons: what about stairs?

BMC Public Health

Table 2 Measures of walkability: tools, indices and questionnaires and stair assessment

Name/Type of walkability tool, index, or questionnaire (N = 15)	Assesses Geographic Terrain	Assesses Stairs	Number of Articles Using This Measure (%)
Audit of Physical Activity Resources for Seniors (APARS)	Yes	Yes	1 (0.5%)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)	Yes¹	No	110 (53.7%)
International Physical Activity Questionnaire Environmental Module (IPAQ-E)	No	No	5 (2.4%)
Neighborhood Brief Observation Tool	No	No	1 (0.5%)
Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS; all versions)	Yes	No	51 (24.9%)
Neighborhood Open Space (NOS)	No	No	3 (1.5%)
Neighborhood Resident Survey	No	No	1 (0.5%)
Neighborhood Walking Questionnaire for Chinese Seniors (NWQ-CS)	Yes	No	4 (2.0%)
New Urbanism Index	No	No	1 (0.5%)
Older Peoples Active Living (OPAL) questionnaire	Unknown	Unknown	3 (1.5%)
Self-created items or indices on walkability	Yes^a	Yes^a	45 (22.0%)
(Street Smart) Walk Score	No	No	5 (2.4%)
Systematic Pedestrian and Cycling Environment Scan (SPACES)	Yes	No	1 (0.5%)
University of Miami Built Environment Coding System (UMBECS)	No	No	1 (0.5%)
Zhongshan Household Travel Survey (ZHTS)	Unknown	Unknown	1 (0.5%)
Total	6	1^b	205 (100%)^c

^aRefers to a broader set of walkability measures and thus some collect information on geographic terrain while others do not
^bAPARS is the only walkability tool that that includes questions on stairs. However, in four other articles there were questions about stairs as survey items in their studies about walkability
^cSince some studies used more than one type of walkability measure, the numbers and percentages add up to more than 205 and 100% respectively

ISSN: 1471-2458