Background
Methods
Study design and population
Active commuting
Environmental features
Environmental features | Description | Classification |
---|---|---|
Neighbourhood | ||
Urbanization | Urban–rural classification of participants’ home location | Urban/rural |
Road density | Total road lengths divided by neighbourhood area (km/km2) | Quartile |
Proportion of primary road | Presence of primary road | Yes/No |
Density of junction | Number of junctions divided by total neighbourhood area | Quartile |
Effective walkable area (EWA) | Total neighbourhood area divided by the potential walkable areaa
| Quartile |
Density of pavement | Area of pavements divided by total road length | Quartile |
Density of pedestrian infrastructure | Area of pedestrian infrastructure divided by total road length | Quartile |
Number of streetlight per 100 m | The number of lights divided by road length per 100 m | Quartile |
Household Density | Total number of household in the neighbourhood area | Quartile |
Density of employment locations | Number of employment locations divided by area of neighbourhood per m2
| Quartile |
Land use mix | Proportion of each land use squared and summedb
| Quartile |
Socioeconomic deprivation | Population weighted scores for neighbourhood | Quartile |
Crime rate | Total crimes per 1000 population in area of residence of year April 2005 – March 2006 | Quartile |
Density of RTAs | The number of RTAs 2002–2006 per km of roads | Quartile |
Density of fatal & serious RTAs | The number of serious and fatal RTAs 2002–2006 per km of roads | Yes/No |
Accessible land in neighbourhood | Presence of accessible land (all parts and green spaces) in the neighbourhood | Yes/No |
Park in neighbourhood | Presence of parks in the neighbourhood | Yes/No |
Green space in neighbourhood | Presence of green spaces in the neighbourhood | Yes/No |
Route | ||
Distance from home to work | The shortest route between home and work identified via the modified street network | <1.5 km |
1.5–4 km | ||
4-10 km | ||
Route length ratio | Route length divided by the straight line distance between the home and school | Quartile |
Main road on route | Presence of primary (A) road as part of route | Yes/No |
Secondary road on route | Presence of secondary (B) road as part of route | Yes/No |
Main or Secondary road along route | Presence of primary (A) or secondary (B) road as part of route | Yes/No |
Number of streetlights along route | The number of streetlights along the route divided by route length per 100 m | Quartile |
Route land use mix | Proportion of each land use within 100 m of route squared and summed | Quartile |
Density of RTAs along route | The total number of RTAs occurred on route between 2002 and 2005 per km of roads | Quartile |
Density of fatal & serious RTAs along route | The number of fatal and serious RTAs occurred on route between 2002 and 2005 per km of roads | Yes/No |
Covariates
Statistical analysis
Results
Sample characteristics
Men | Women |
P
| |
---|---|---|---|
n = 438 |
n = 705 | ||
Age (in years) | |||
< 50 | 116 (26.5%) | 266 (37.7%) | <0.001 |
50–54 | 172 (39.2%) | 264 (37.5%) | |
> =55 | 150 (35.3%) | 175 (24.8%) | |
BMI (kg/m2) | |||
Normal weight | 150 (34.3%) | 383 (54.33) | <0.001 |
Overweight | 243 (55.5%) | 211 (31.4%) | |
Obese | 45 (10.3%) | 101 (14.3%) | |
Social Class | |||
Professional | 219 (50.0%) | 287 (40.7%) | 0.008 |
Skilled | 159 (36.3%) | 311 (44.1%) | |
Partly Skilled/unskilled | 60 (13.7%) | 107 (15.2%) | |
Marital Status | |||
Not married | 34 (7.8%) | 129 (18.3%) | <0.001 |
Married | 404 (92.2%) | 576 (81.7%) | |
Alcohol Consumption | |||
Non drinker | 19 (4.3%) | 58 (8.2%) | 0.008 |
Sensible drinker | 357 (81.5%) | 575 (81.6%) | |
Heavy drinker | 62 (14.2%) | 72 (10.2%) | |
Smoking Status | |||
Never smoke | 212 (48.4%) | 416 (59.0%) | <0.001 |
Former smoker | 194 (44.3%) | 223 (31.6%) | |
Current smoker | 32 (7.3%) | 66 (9.4%) | |
Change of commutinga
| |||
Non-AC to non-AC | 265 (60.5%) | 412 (58.4%) | 0.450 |
Non-AC to AC | 49 (11.2%) | 66 (9.4%) | |
AC to AC | 86 (19.6%) | 163 (23.1%) | |
AC to non-AC | 38 (8.7%) | 64 (9.1%) |
Environmental predictors of uptake of active commuting
Uptake of active commuting | Maintenance of active commuting | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model a |
p
| Model b |
p
| Model a |
p
| Model b |
p
| |
OR (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | OR (95% CI) | |||||
Neighbourhood Environment | ||||||||
Effective walkable area (EWA) (Reference: Lowest) | ||||||||
Second quartile | 0.69 (0.36–1.31) | 0.02 | 0.62 (0.30–1.29) | 0.02 | ||||
Third Quartile | - | - | - | - | 0.85 (0.44–1.63) | 0.75 (0.35–1.60) | ||
Highest | - | - | - | - | 0.43 (0.22–0.82) | 0.32 (0.15–0.68) | ||
Route Environment | ||||||||
Distance from home to work (Reference: <1.5 km) | ||||||||
1.5–4 km | 0.31 (0.19–0.52) | <0.001 | 0.23 (0.13–0.39) | <0.001 | 2.94 (1.59–5.42) | <0.001 | 2.85 (1.45–5.59) | <0.001 |
4–10 km | 0.08 (0.04–0.13) | 0.06 (0.03–0.11) | 8.34 (4.33–16.10) | 8.82 (4.15–18.80) | ||||
Main or secondary road on route (Reference: No) | ||||||||
Yes | - | - | - | - | 2.71 (1.56–4.69) | <0.001 | 1.97 (1.04–3.73) | 0.04 |
Number of streetlights per 100 m (Reference: Lowest) | ||||||||
Second quartile | 3.54 (1.83–6.86) | <0.001 | 2.54 (1.24–5.21) | <0.001 | - | - | - | - |
Third Quartile | 2.26 (1.12–4.58) | 2.04 (0.95–4.39) | - | - | - | - | ||
Highest | 4.77 (2.46–9.24) | 5.45 (2.62–11.33) | - | - | - | - |