Abstract
BackgroundActive transportation has been associated with favorable health outcomes. Previous research highlighted the influence of neighborhood educational level on active transportation. However, little is known regarding the effect of commuting distance on social disparities in active commuting. In this regard, women have been poorly studied. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the relationship between neighborhood educational level and active commuting, and to assess whether the commuting distance modifies this relationship in adult women.MethodsThis cross-sectional study is based on a subsample of women from the Nutrinet-Santé web-cohort (N = 1169). Binomial, log-binomial and negative binomial regressions were used to assess the associations between neighborhood education level and (i) the likelihood of reporting any active commuting time, and (ii) the share of commuting time made by active transportation modes. Potential effect measure modification of distance to work on the previous associations was assessed both on the additive and the multiplicative scales.ResultsNeighborhood education level was positively associated with the probability of reporting any active commuting time (relative risk = 1.774; p < 0.05) and the share of commuting time spent active (relative risk = 1.423; p < 0.05). The impact of neighborhood education was greater at long distances to work for both outcomes.ConclusionsOur results suggest that neighborhood educational disparities in active commuting tend to increase with commuting distance among women. Further research is needed to provide geographically driven guidance for health promotion intervention aiming at reducing disparities in active transportation among socioeconomic groups.
Highlights
Active transportation has been associated with favorable health outcomes
Disparities in neighborhood educational level might turn into neighborhood educational disparities in active commuting, supporting “low-active low-educated neighborhood” as priority target for community-based interventions promoting physical activity [28]
The first objective of this study was to assess in women the association between neighborhood education level and both (i) the likelihood of reporting any active commuting time, and (ii) the share of total commuting time made by active transportation modes
Summary
Active transportation has been associated with favorable health outcomes. Previous research highlighted the influence of neighborhood educational level on active transportation. Little is known regarding the effect of commuting distance on social disparities in active commuting In this regard, women have been poorly studied. The benefits of walking and cycling for transportation on many health outcomes (i.e. cardiovascular diseases, colon cancer, mortality) are widely recognized [1,2,3,4,5,6] and the promotion of active commuting has been suggested as an effective way to increase levels of habitual physical activity [7, 8], especially among women [7]. It appears relevant to clarify whether educational disparities in active commuting occur at the neighborhood level, independently of individual level of education In this regard, as women have been shown to be more sensitive to the effect of the effect of socio-economic deprivation on physical activity than men [29], and poorly studied, this studies focused exclusively on women
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