Geographic Determinants of Healthy Lifestyle Change in a Community-Based Exercise Prescription Delivered in Family Practice

Evidence is unequivocal that exercise training can improve health outcomes. However, despite this evidence, adoption of healthy lifestyles is poor. The physical environment is one possible determinant of successful adoption of healthy lifestyles that could influence outcomes in community-based intervention strategies. We developed a novel exercise prescription delivered in two different cohorts of older sedentary adults-one delivered by family physicians to patients with identified cardiovascular risk factors (CRF) and the other delivered at a community exercise facility to a larger cohort of healthy sedentary adults (HSA). We then determined whether the place of residence and proximity to facilities promoting physical activity and healthy or unhealthy eating could influence clinical changes related to these community-based exercise prescriptions.