Women who feel unsafe less active

BOSTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Women residing in low-income housing in Boston neighborhoods considered unsafe at night are much less physically active than those living in safer environs.

The study, published in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine, finds 80 percent of respondents felt safe during the daytime, but only 37 percent felt safe at night -- men tending to report feeling safer at both times of day.

No association was found between feelings of safety and total physical activity for men at any time of the day, or women during the day -- but women who felt unsafe at night were significantly less active than those who felt safe.

Lead author Gary G. Bennett and principal investigator Karen M. Emmons, both of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, looked at residents of 12 urban and predominantly minority public housing communities in metropolitan Boston.

To measure physical activity, participants completed surveys of their activity. They were asked to wear a pedometer at all times except when bathing, showering or sleeping.