Health benefits of pedestrian and cyclist commuting (2024)

(bmjpublichealth.bmj.com)

1 points | by throw0101d 5 hours ago

3 comments

  • throw0101d 5 hours ago
    General findings:

    > Compared with non-active commuters, cyclists had 47% lower risk of death from any cause, 10% lower risk of any hospitalisation, 24% lower risk of CVD hospitalisation and 30% lower risk of receiving a CVD related prescription, 24% lower risk of cancer hospitalisation and 51% lower risk of cancer death, and a 20% lower risk of receiving a mental health related prescription. Pedestrian commuters, compared with non-active commuters, had a 9% lower risk of any hospitalisation, 10% lower risk of CVD hospitalisation or of receiving a CVD related prescription, and 7% lower risk of receiving a mental health related prescription. However, cycle commuters were twice as likely as non-active commuters to be hospitalised due to a traffic collision.

    That last sentence is interesting: cycle commuters are more likely to get into a collision (in Scotland), but even taking that in account, cyclists still had a lower overall all-cause fatality rate.

  • throw0101d 5 hours ago
    Another study by the same research group estimated 'active commuting' had a positive €750M impact on the Scottish economy:

    * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221414052...

    Scotland has a population of 5M, so that's pretty high on a per capita basis.

  • throw0101d 5 hours ago
    Interview with one of the co-authors:

    * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDhGHPHCgqI&t=6m9s