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Title:

Association Between Active Commuting and Body Mass Index

Accession Number:

01657976

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

The lack of physical activity and a high in-take of calories have been associated with many health risk including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, mental illness, and obesity. In the last century, the evolution of technology in transportation, workplace, shopping, entertainment, and communications has re-shaped the environment in a way which requires less physical activity but prolong sitting. Commuting to work has been one of the major sedentary activities due to increased traffic congestion and commuting distances. Switching from car commuting to an active or less sedentary routine such as biking, walking, or taking public transportation for work trips has been promoted as a feasible way of engaging commuters in adequate physical activity. This research aims to evaluate the association between commuting and Body Mass Index (BMI). Commuting was assessed in terms of commute type (active commuting and passive commuting) and commute time. Health surveys were conducted in four hospitals in Istanbul between March and November 2016. Data was collected from 677 patients who are habitual commuters and aged 18-65 years. The survey included questions regarding socio-economics, general health, physical activity involvement, nutritional intake, job characteristics, and daily commuting. The outcome assessed was BMI. It was shown that active commuting was inversely associated with BMI. However, the association ceased to be significant after adjustment for covariates. In the subgroup of subjects who are engaged in moderate physical activity outside of work, active commuting more than 20 minutes per day reduces BMI significantly.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD50 Standing Committee on Environmental Justice in Transportation.

Report/Paper Numbers:

18-04013

Language:

English

Authors:

Ongel, Aybike
Oguz, Didem
Ozderya, Aysenur
Sen, Esra Cil
Demir, Gunhan
Kaynarca, Ozum Asya
Ersal, Mehmet Ali
Eroglu, Ihsan
Emecen, Arif

Pagination:

7p

Publication Date:

2018

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

References; Tables

Uncontrolled Terms:

Physical activity

Geographic Terms:

Istanbul (Turkey)

Subject Areas:

Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Society

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-04013

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Jan 8 2018 11:00AM