Utility cycling as a public health strategy to integrate physical activity into everyday life: a systematic enquiry

Abstract

A lack of physical activity (PA) s the fourth leading cause of mortality worldwide. Reasons for physical inactivity include the increasing electrification, mechanisation and motorisation of everyday life which has excluded PA from everyday life. Building PA back into life therefore may be one means of raising population levels of PA. One way of achieving this may be through utility (non-sporting) cycling. The overarching aim of this thesis was to explore utility cycling as a public health strategy to integrate physical activity into everyday life. A systematic review showed that there is little evidence of what interventions might increase population levels of commuter cycling though population level interventions may be most effective. An example of such interventions identified was the Cycling City and Towns (CCT) programme. A search of the UK dataservice found that the Active People Survey was appropriate for the evaluation of CCTs for their effect upon utility cycling and PA in other life domains. CCTs were found associated with a greater probability of utility cycling than their matched controls (AOR 1.48, 95% CI 1.14 - 1.94). Those most likely to have cycled were male, aged 16-34, and those in the ONS socio-economic category NS SEC 9. Those least likely were those in NS SEC 5-8 and of Asian ethnicity. A second analysis of the effect of utility cycling showed that there was a greater probability of meeting PA recommendations in those who undertook utility cycling compared to those who did not (AOR 4.08 (95% CI 3.88 – 4.29). Those most likely to meet PA recommendations were male, aged 16-34, of mixed ethnicity, without children and living in London. This thesis concludes that programmes such as the CCTs may offer one means through which population levels of PA can be increased through its integration into everyday life.