Socio-demographic and lifestyle correlates of commuting activity in Poland.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to analyse the epidemiology of active transportation and to investigate the relationship between commuting physical activity (PA) and socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics in Poland. METHODS: A cross sectional analysis was conducted among 7280 randomly selected individuals (3747 men and 3533 women) aged 20-74 years participating in the National Multicentre Health Survey WOBASZ (2002-2005). Socio-demographic, smoking and physical activity details were assessed by an interviewer-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Only 36% of the participants (30% men and 42% of women) are active commuters. Moreover, 55.4% of them spend less than 15 min/day on walking or cycling. The highest risk of commuting inactivity was noticed among residents of large urban settings, with university education, the highest income and low occupational PA in both genders. Smoking and leisure-time PA were not significantly associated with commuting activity. CONCLUSIONS: Active commuting is not common in Poland. There are several differences in commuting patterns as compared with the US or Western European populations. Due to important differences between various socio-demographic groups, future interventions should be specific for the targeted subpopulations.

How education, income, control over life and life style contribute to risk factors for cardiovascular disease among adults in a post-communist country.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of education, income, food habits and control over life on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in Poland, a former communist country with ongoing transformations of the political and economic system, where cardiovascular disease is an important health problem. METHODS: The data were collected by questionnaire, as part of the CINDI Programme, from 2001 to 2002 in Lodz, an industrial city in Poland. The surveys were directed at random samples of 2000 men and 2000 women; 1847 participants aged 18-64 years responded. As detailed in the ATP III report, participants with three or more of abdominal obesity, hypertriglyceridaemia, low high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, high blood pressure or high fasting glucose were defined as having the metabolic syndrome. RESULTS: We have found that education is more strongly associated with the metabolic syndrome. Our study suggests that higher education may be a strong and consistent predictor of good health. Also, low control over life (unfulfilled daily needs, unfulfilling work, little or no reward for effort at work) and lack of physical activity have been shown to be predictors for the metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that interventions to improve the health of the Polish population need to be specific for the social environment.