Impact of changes in mode of travel to work on changes in body mass index: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

Martin, Adam, Panter, Jenna, Suhrcke, Marc and Ogilvie, David (2015) Impact of changes in mode of travel to work on changes in body mass index: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 69 (8). pp. 753-761. ISSN 0143-005X

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Abstract

BACKGROUND Active commuting is associated with various health benefits, but little is known about its causal relationship with body mass index (BMI). METHODS We used cohort data from three consecutive annual waves of the British Household Panel Survey, a longitudinal study of nationally representative households, in 2004/05 (n=15,791), 2005/06 and 2006/07. Participants selected for the analyses (n=4,056) reported their usual main mode of travel to work at each time point. Self-reported height and weight were used to derive BMI at baseline and after two years. Multivariable linear regression analyses were used to assess associations between switching to and from active modes of travel (over one and two years) and change in BMI (over two years) and to assess dose-response relationships. RESULTS After adjustment for socioeconomic and health-related covariates, the first analysis (n=3,269) showed that switching from private motor transport to active travel or public transport (n=179) was associated with a significant reduction in BMI compared to continued private motor vehicle use (n=3,090) (-0.32kg/m2, 95% CI: -0.60 to -0.05). Larger adjusted effect sizes were associated with switching to active travel (n=109) (-0.45kg/m2, -0.78 to -0.11), particularly among those who switched within the first year and those with the longest journeys. The second analysis (n=787) showed that switching from active travel or public transport to private motor transport was associated with a significant increase in BMI (0.34kg/m2, 0.05 to 0.64). CONCLUSION Interventions to enable commuters to switch from private motor transport to more active modes of travel could contribute to reducing population mean BMI.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Economics Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Mar 2015 13:06
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 00:40
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/52608
DOI:	10.1136/jech-2014-205211

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