DIFFERENCES IN WALKABILITY INFLUENCE RESIDENTS’ HYPERTENSION IN TAIWAN: AN ANALYSIS OF OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA

The non-communicable disease is a serious problem in the world. Prevention emphasized modifiable behavioral and environmental features. Walkable neighborhood increases the level of physical activity and decreases the risk and the mortality of non-communicable diseases. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to understand the walkability and the distribution of the rate of outpatients with hypertension in each administrative region in Taiwan, and to analyze whether the difference of walkability could affect the rate of outpatients with hypertension. All data were retrieved from open government data in Taiwan and analyzed by ANOVA and National Geographic Information System. According to the standard deviation of walkability index, the regions were divided into four levels. The result demonstrated there was a significant difference in the rate of outpatients with hypertension among different regions. The regions with the highest walkability presented the lowest rate of outpatients with hypertension, which was significantly less than the third and the lowest one. In conclusion, the walkability is an important risk factor for hypertension. The walkable neighborhood should be considered of urban planning and sport and health related policies, in order to promote resident’s well-beings in advance. To cite this document: Hsin-Yen Yen and Saeedeh Ching Li,  "DIFFERENCES IN WALKABILITY INFLUENCE RESIDENTS’ HYPERTENSION IN TAIWAN: AN ANALYSIS OF OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA", International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, Vol.8, No.2, pp.97-107, 2017. Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/ijecs.1516