Study finds clear health benefits of active commuting
A new study published in July identified clear and consistently lower risks of adverse health outcomes among active commuters, especially cyclists.
The study found that, compared with non-active commuters, cyclists had a:
- 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
- 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
- mental health prescription
- 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 - a clear sign that local authorities need to build safe cycling infrastructure to enable the health benefits of cycling to be realised and outweigh the risks.
See BMJ article "Health benefits of pedestrian and cyclist commuting: evidence from the Scottish Longitudinal Study" for further detail.