Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of study participants
| Lowest quartile of neighbourhood walkability |
Highest quartile of neighbourhood walkability |
Total study population |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Frequency (%) | Mean (SD) | N patients with data | Frequency (%) | Mean (SD) | N patients with data | Frequency (%) | Mean (SD) | N patients with data |
| Sex (female) | 11 303 | (62.3%) | 18 137 | 11 399 (62.7%) | 18 192 | 48 556 (62.2%) | 78 022 | ||
| Age (years) | 49.2 (19.2) | 18 122 | 48.5 (17.9) | 18 180 | 50.0 (19.2) | 77 966 | |||
| 18≤age<40 | 6448 (35.6%) | 6895 (37.9%) | 26 977 (34.6%) | ||||||
| 40<age≤65 | 7731 (42.7%) | 7760 (42.7%) | 33 056 (42.4%) | ||||||
| >65 years | 3943 (21.8%) | 3525 (19.4%) | 17 933 (23.0%) | ||||||
| Smoking (current smoker) | 1530 (12.0%) | 12 772 | 1669 (13.3%) | 12 511 | 6808 (12.1%) | 56 093 | |||
| Anthropometric indicators | |||||||||
| Body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2) | 29.6 (10.0) | 9819 | 26.0 (6.22) | 10 920 | 27.2 (7.4) | 46 029 | |||
| Overweight or obese (BMI≥25 kg/m2) | 6370 (64.9%) | 9819 | 5505 (50.4%) | 10 920 | 26 309 (57.2%) | 46 029 | |||
| Prescribed weight-loss medication | 1146 (6.3%) | 18 137 | 523 (2.9%) | 18 192 | 3387 (4.3%) | 78 023 | |||
| Blood pressure control | |||||||||
| Hypertension diagnosis | 4068 (22.4%) | 18 137 | 2980 (16.4%) | 18 192 | 16 241 (20.8%) | 78 023 | |||
| Prescribed antihypertensive medication | 4796 (26.4%) | 18 137 | 3555 (19.5%) | 18 192 | 19 020 (24.4%) | 78 023 | |||
| Systolic blood pressure (sBP) (mm Hg) | 121.5 (16.0) | 13 722 | 117.4 (15.5) | 13 950 | 119.8 (16.0) | 59 634 | |||
| Diastolic blood pressure (dBP) (mm Hg) | 75.0 (10.0) | 13 722 | 73.1 (10.0) | 13 950 | 73.8 (10.0) | 59 634 | |||
| Blood glucose control | |||||||||
| Diabetes diagnosis | 2242 (12.4%) | 18 137 | 1096 (6.0%) | 18 192 | 6988 (9.0%) | 78 023 | |||
| Prescribed antidiabetic medication | 1788 (9.9%) | 18 137 | 786 (4.3%) | 18 192 | 5220 (6.7%) | 78 023 | |||
| Haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (%) | 6.10 (1.10) | 6721 | 5.74 (0.75) | 5570 | 5.89 (0.88) | 29 575 | |||
| Fasting blood glucose (FBG) (mmol/L) | 5.56 (1.70) | 8388 | 5.32 (1.26) | 6367 | 5.42 (1.46) | 34 698 | |||
| Lipid control | |||||||||
| Prescribed lipid-lowering medication | 3686 (20.3%) | 18 137 | 2453 (13.5%) | 18 192 | 13 979 (17.9%) | 78 023 | |||
| Total cholesterol (TC) (mmol/L) | 4.73 (1.08) | 8690 | 4.93 (1.04) | 6825 | 4.81 (1.06) | 36 498 | |||
| High-density lipoprotein (HDL) (mmol/L) | 1.43 (0.41) | 8844 | 1.58 (0.47) | 7014 | 1.49 (0.44) | 37 295 | |||
| Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (mmol/L) | 2.71 (0.90) | 8770 | 2.78 (0.88) | 6983 | 2.74 (0.89) | 37 097 | |||
| Triglycerides (TG) (mmol/L) | 1.34 (1.05) | 8883 | 1.26 (0.79) | 7008 | 1.31 (0.87) | 37 417 | |||
| Neighbourhood violent crime rate* (events/10 000 residents) |
95.4 (49.8) | 18 137 | 128.2 (84.3) | 18 192 | 91.3 (59.6) | 78 023 | |||
| Neighbourhood instability score† | −0.048 (0.48) | 18 137 | 1.37 (0.68) | 18 192 | 0.480 (0.71) | 78 023 | |||
| Neighbourhood deprivation score† | 0.30 (0.96) | 18 137 | −0.53 (0.69) | 18 192 | −0.170 (0.77) | 78 023 | |||
| Neighbourhood ethnic concentration score† | 1.78 (0.89) | 18 137 | 0.82 (0.89) | 18 192 | 1.353 (1.08) | 78 023 | |||
| Neighbourhood dependency score† | −0.020 (0.36) | 18 137 | −0.44 (0.27) | 18 192 | −0.100 (0.39) | 78 023 | |||
N, number of observations in study sample.
*Violent crime includes occurrences of assault, sexual assault, robbery and murder.
†Scores of neighbourhood instability, deprivation, ethnic concentration and dependency are dimensions of the Ontario Marginalization Index.49 Scores are population-weighted, and higher values indicate greater instability/deprivation/ethnic concentration/dependency.