Department of Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 12476Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
Department of Landscape Studies, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, 12476Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
HERD. 2020 Oct;13(4):128-143. doi: 10.1177/1937586720936588. Epub 2020 Jul 15.
Walk-up buildings are common in China today since they were almost the only type of residential buildings constructed from the 1950s to the 1990s.
This study examined how a vertical mobility obstacle, that is, mandatory stair climbing in walk-up residential buildings, may impact whether seniors go outdoors.
We collected and examined 1,608 valid data records from 64 Chinese senior participants in Shanghai wearing Fitbit HR wristbands that tracked their mobility and physical activity for 31 consecutive days. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regressions were performed on the binary leaving-home-or-not probability by the level of vertical obstacles controlled for physical-demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, outdoor activity habits, and weather.
Our observations revealed that each floor above ground level reduced the likelihood of outdoor trips by approximately one third per floor. After controlling for the physical, demographic, and socioeconomic factors of the participants as well as weather and holidays, we found that significantly fewer going-out incidents were also associated with more frequent outdoor activities within the community, especially in paved areas, but no associations were observed with self-reported visit frequencies to green spaces, senior centers within the community, or other places outside the community.
This study offered the in situ observation that seniors' probability of leaving their homes is correlated with the degree of vertical circulation as a mobility barrier (i.e., the number of stairs between their living space and access to the outdoors), which may impact policy making for regulations concerning elevators in residential codes and renovations.
如今，在中国，步行上楼的建筑很常见，因为它们几乎是 20 世纪 50 年代到 90 年代唯一建造的住宅类型。
本研究考察了垂直通行障碍（即步行上楼住宅建筑中强制爬楼梯）如何影响老年人是否外出。
我们收集并检查了上海 64 名中国老年人的 1608 条有效数据记录，这些老年人佩戴了 Fitbit HR 腕带，连续 31 天跟踪他们的活动情况。使用多水平混合效应逻辑回归，根据垂直障碍水平，对是否离家外出的二项概率进行分析，同时控制了身体-人口统计学因素、社会经济因素、户外活动习惯和天气。
我们的观察结果表明，每高出地面一层，外出活动的可能性就会降低约三分之一。在控制了参与者的身体、人口统计学和社会经济因素以及天气和节假日之后，我们发现，与外出活动频率更高的社区相比，外出活动频率显著较低，特别是在铺砌的区域，但与自我报告的绿地、社区内的老年人中心或社区外其他地方的访问频率没有关联。
本研究提供了现场观察结果，表明老年人离家外出的可能性与其作为通行障碍的垂直循环程度（即居住空间与户外通道之间的楼梯数量）相关，这可能会影响住宅规范中关于电梯的规定和翻新政策的制定。
