Overall health impacts of a potential increase in cycle commuting in Stockholm, Sweden.
Scand J Public Health
; 50(5): 552-564, 2022 Jul.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33977822
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
To estimate the overall health impact of transferring commuting trips from car to bicycle.METHODS:
In this study registry information on the location of home and work for residents in Stockholm County was used to obtain the shortest travel route on a network of bicycle paths and roads. Current modes of travel to work were based on travel survey data. The relation between duration of cycling and distance cycled was established as a basis for selecting the number of individuals that normally would drive a car to work, but have a distance to work that they could bicycle within 30 minutes. The change in traffic flows was estimated by a transport model (LuTrans) and effects on road traffic injuries and fatalities were estimated by using national hospital injury data. Effects on air pollution concentrations were modelled using dispersion models.RESULTS:
Within the scenario, 111,000 commuters would shift from car to bicycle. On average the increased physical activity reduced the one-year mortality risk by 12% among the additional bicyclists. Including the number of years lost due to morbidity, the total number of disability adjusted life-years gained was 696. The amount of disability adjusted life-years gained in the general population due to reduced air pollution exposure was 471. The number of disability adjusted life-years lost by traffic injuries was 176. Also including air pollution effects among bicyclists, the net benefit was 939 disability adjusted life-years per year.CONCLUSIONS:
Large health benefits were estimated by transferring commuting by car to bicycle.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Transportation
/
Air Pollution
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Scand J Public Health
Journal subject:
MEDICINA SOCIAL
/
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Sweden