Active travel and cardio-metabolic health in Understanding Society
This project investigated the potential role active travel (walking and cycling for transport) has in improving cardiometabolic health and attenuating inequalities, which are currently on the rise in the UK. There are large disparities in cardiometabolic health and active travel use across the population as a result of complex interactions between socio-economic status, risks factors and travel behaviour. Existing research using self-reported outcomes in the UKHLS has found that there are equity-enhancing impacts of active travel, but there is little data on the impact of active travel on objective measures of cardio-metabolic health. In addition to potential differences in impacts by socio-economic status, active travel may also confer different benefits to people according to their pre-existing cardio-metabolic risk factors, although this has not been investigated previously. The UKHLS providesd an opportunity to understand these questions as it combines data on active travel, biomarkers, and the development of cardiovascular conditions. This project assessed cross-sectionally whether active travel is linked to cardiometabolic biomarkers, and longitudinally whether active travel is linked to reduced likelihood of a new cardiovascular condition. It incorporated historic British Household Panel Survey data for a subset of participants to investigate long-term commuting patterns and cardio-metabolic health, and whether active travel attenuates relationships between socioeconomic status and cardiovascular health. This project aimed to add to our knowledge of the potential for active travel to improve health and reduce health inequalities as well as elucidating the interplay of active travel with socio-economic status and inequalities in cardio-metabolic health.
