2305 - Relationship between Travel Behavior and Body Mass Index – Analysis on Japanese Nationwide Person Trip Survey in 2015

Abstract

Background Relationships between urban environment, transport infrastructure, travel behavior and physical activity amount / health condition are verified in various literatures. In this study, we analyze relationships between travel behavior and body mass index (BMI) as an objective indicator of health which was corrected through PT survey in 2015 for the first time. Methods In the analysis of this study, we used Japanese national wide PT survey data. The nationwide PT survey were conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) about every five years (1987, 1992, 1999, 2005, 2010, and 2015). In the 2015 survey, 70 cities were targeted, with responses from approximately 47,300 households (collected rate 29.2%) for one day travel behavior in autumn, over 5 years old included. In FY 2015 survey, a question of BMI (weight kg / (height m) 2) was newly introduced as a simple health index to analyze the relationship between health and travel behavior. In this study, we tried to grasp the relation between BMI, city type, and travel behavior by using Japanese nationwide PT survey data. Results (i) BMI by commuting modes and gender It was shown that BMI of car commuters for both male and female are significantly higher than those who commute by other mode, namely public transport, bicycle and walking. In female, there was a significant difference also between bike and car. (ii)BMI by annual car driving distance and walkable distance For male, the longer the car's mileage, the higher the BMI. Excluding female drivers with zero driving and those driving over 20 thousand km, BMI tends to be higher as car mileage is longer. Correlation coefficient was significantly positive for both sexes. Also, for both males and females, except for those with a walkable distance up to 100 m, the longer the walkable distance was, the lower the BMI. Conclusions Based on these results, it was revealed that city type, travel behavior and BMI have a significant relationship in Japan. As an analysis with the urban environment, we also analyzes including the average inclination (ratio of sloping land) of the area etc., and the accessibility index of Japan. Those results will also be presented at the conference.