Business car owners are less physically active than other adults: A cross-sectional study

Maarten Koornneef,Claire M Bernaards,Ingrid J.M Hendriksen,Hedwig Hofstetter

doi:10.1016/j.jth.2017.03.006

Abstract

Abstract Active transport contributes to increased daily physical activity (PA). Car ownership is associated with less frequent active transport and less PA. For business car ownership this relation is unknown. Therefore, we explored whether business car owners and their adult household members comply less with the Dutch moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guideline and are more sedentary than private car owners and persons without a car. From October 2011 to September 2012 questions about use and availability of cars in the household were included in the survey Injuries and Physical Activity in the Netherlands. Multiple linear regression was used to compare six mutual exclusive groups of ownership and availability of (business and/or private) cars in the household. Business car owners complied less (15.8 percent points) with the MVPA guideline than the other respondents. They also reported 1.5 h more sitting time during workdays than the other respondents, but after adjusting for covariates, this difference was no longer significant. We concluded that owners of a business car in the Netherlands are at higher risk of not complying with the MVPA guideline and tend to spend more hours sitting during workdays than other adults. Further research in this group, e.g. with objective instruments to measure physical activity and sedentary behavior, is recommended. Policy makers on transport and fiscal arrangements, employers, employees, occupational health professionals and car lease companies should be aware of this possible health risk.

Highlights

There is broad consensus that physical activity (PA) has a positive influence on health (Physical activity and health, 1996; Lee et al, 2012)
We found that the 25%-subsample the contained a higher percentage of business car owners, business car co-users and respondents with no car in the HH compared to the remaining respondents, whereas the percentage of private car co-users was lower in the 25%-subsample
28.8% of business car owners complied with the moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guideline, which is significantly lower compared to private car owners, adult co-users of a car in the HH and adult respondents with no car in the HH

Summary

Introduction

There is broad consensus that physical activity (PA) has a positive influence on health (Physical activity and health, 1996; Lee et al, 2012). High amounts of moderate-intensity physical activity (i.e., about 60–75 min per day) seem to decrease the risk of death associated with prolonged sitting, there is a growing concern about the health risks of SB (Ekelund et al, 2016). Considering both PA and SB is relevant for the situation in the Netherlands, as European comparison studies showed that the Dutch population had the highest proportion of respondents who participated in moderate physical activity but they reported the highest mean sitting time (ST) on weekdays compared to respondents of the other European countries (Sport and Physical Activity, 2014; Bennie et al, 2013).

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Discussion

Conclusion