Sydney Research Articles

Present day and future urban cooling enabled by integrated water management

The process of urbanisation has increased public health risks due to urban heat, risks that will be further exacerbated in future decades by climate change. However, the growing adoption of integrated water management (IWM) practices (coordinated stormwater management of water, land, and resources) provides an opportunity to support urban heat amelioration through water supply provision and irrigated and vegetated infrastructure that can provide cooling benefits. This study examines the thermal impacts of future implementations of IWM for nine Australian cities based on a review of Government policy documents in the present and over two future time frames (2030 and 2050) under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios (SSPs 1.2-6, 3.7-0 and 5.8-5). Statistical analysis of the future climate data using historical data shows that future warming is nuanced, with changes variable in both time and place, and with extremes becoming more pronounced in future. We have developed a unique approach to morph the future climate projections onto historical data (derived from the ERA5 Reanalysis product) for the 2010-2020 period. Additionally, we use locally appropriate Local Climate Zones (LCZs) for Australian cities, resulting from a holistic and global approach that is widely adopted by the urban climate modelling community. We developed scenarios for business-as-usual as well as implementation of moderate and high levels of IWM across each of the Australian LCZs and modelled them using TARGET (The Air temperature Response to Green infrastructure Evaluation Tool). Results generated at the LCZ level are aggregated to Australian statistical areas (SA4, the largest sub-city area) and city-wide levels. The thermal impacts associated with the various degrees of IWM were marked and geographically differentiated, depending on the climatic characteristics of the various cities. For the current climate, high IWM intervention provided reductions in annual mean daily maximum temperature ranging from -0.77°C in Darwin, up to -1.86°C in Perth. Generally, the drier southern cities of Sydney, Canberra, Albury, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth produced the greatest thermal response to implementation of IWM and the more tropical cities with higher rainfalls the least response. For some southern cities cooling was > -3.0°C at the time of maximum summer temperatures. Interestingly high levels of IWM in winter produced modest warming of minimum overnight temperatures, especially for the cooler southern cities. The cooling benefits of IWM were seen across all future climate scenarios and are a real opportunity to offset-projected temperature increases resulting from climate change.

Holistic Analysis of Recreation and Leisure Science in Sports

The aim of this research is to analyse scientific publications between 1980-2020 and to make a holistic analysis on recreation and leisure science in sports. Using the data obtained within the scope of the study, information graphics and explanatory bibliometric networks that reveal bibliometric networks were created. According to the results obtained from the study, the most used keywords were found to be “recreation”, “leisure” and “sport/s”. Citation analysis reveals that Lee, Powell and Iwasaki are the most cited authors. There are a total of 475 journals in the data. Leisure Sciences, Journal of Leisure Research and Annals of Leisure Research, are the most cited journals. Griffith University (Australia), University of Illinois (USA) and University of Sydney (Australia) were the leading publishers. It can be stated that the concepts used in leisure and recreation studies focus on physical activity, that the majority of the tourism sector is aimed at the long-term area, that it focuses on theses and government policies to increase participation in physical activity, and that it contains arguments for the development of social theories and practical applications.

Effectiveness of vaccination, travel load, and facemask use control strategies for controlling COVID Delta variant: the case of Sydney Metropolitan Area

AbstractThe Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, specifically identified as B.1.617.2, is responsible for the severe outbreaks witnessed globally, including in various countries and cities, with Sydney Greater Metropolitan Area (Sydney GMA) being no exception. According to scientific studies, the Delta strain exhibits increased contagion and leads to a higher incidence of vaccine breakthrough cases, posing significant challenges to pandemic control efforts. In this study, we explore the efficacy of three fundamental control strategies—namely, vaccination rates, adherence to facemask usage, and the management of travel loads—in mitigating the spread of the disease and, consequently, eliminating the Delta variant pandemic in Sydney GMA. We employ an agent-based disease spread model to thoroughly investigate these strategies. Moreover, factorial MANOVA is utilised to assess the significance of variations in the impact of diverse compliance levels with the aforementioned control strategies on various attributes of the pandemic. As complete lockdowns and stringent travel regulations have the potential to induce physical and mental distress in individuals and economic crises for countries, our study examines the interactive effects of implementing control strategies to mitigate the necessity for a full lockdown. The simulation results suggest that suppressing a pandemic with similar characteristics to Delta variant of COVID is feasible with a vaccination rate of 80% or higher, as long as travel load and activity participation are maintained at pre-COVID levels. Alternatively, a more realistic and attainable combination of control measures—a vaccination rate of 60%, a facemask usage level of 60%, and a 50% compliance level for social distancing—demonstrates comparable efficacy, leading to effective pandemic control. Notably, the vaccination rate emerges as a more potent control strategy compared to others in the elimination of the disease within society.

Flattening which curve? Property-price gradients in New South Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT This paper tests how the patterns of residential property values in the Australian state New South Wales changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2019 and 2021, property values became relatively high in medium-sized towns and cities, suggesting those locations became more attractive. In its capital and largest city Sydney, the premium on proximity to the central business district (CBD), where employment is heavily concentrated, decreased after 2019 and that decrease persisted beyond the end of pandemic measures. The premium in Sydney on proximity to the beach has increased, but on a trajectory consistent with an existing trend. The decreased premium on proximity to the CBD since 2019 appears to have initially been related to the value of access via public transport, but then also to the value of access by car. The findings suggest shifts in regional development and urban form that could have implications for how cities are planned and developed.

Show me the money! Associations between tree canopy and hospital costs in cities for cardiovascular disease events in a longitudinal cohort study of 110,134 participants

Health benefits from urban greening are assumed to translate into reduced healthcare expenditure, yet few studies have tested this. A total of 110,134 participants in the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study in the Australian cities of Sydney, Newcastle, or Wollongong were linked with hospital cost data for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events (e.g., acute myocardial infarctions) up to 30 June 2018. Associations between percentages of total green space, tree canopy, and open grass within 1.6 km of participants homes and annual per person measured CVD-related hospital costs were analysed using generalised linear model (GLM) with gamma density as a component of a two-part mixture model, adjusting for confounders. Overall, 26,243 participants experienced a CVD-related hospitalisation. Incidence was lower among participants with 10 % more tree canopy (OR 0.98, 95 %CI 0.96, 0.99), but not with higher total green space or open grass percentages. Total costs of hospitalisations per year were lower with 10 % more tree canopy (means ratio 0.96, 95 %CI 0.95, 0.98), but also higher with 10 % more open grass (means ratio 1.04, 95 %CI 1.02, 1.06). It was estimated that raising tree canopy cover to 30 % or more for individuals with currently less than 10 % could lead to a within-sample annual saving per person of AU$ 193 overall and AU$ 569 for those who experienced one or more CVD-related hospital admissions. This projects to an estimated annual health sector cost reduction of AU$ 19.3 million per 100,000 individuals for whom local tree canopy cover is increased from less than 10 % to 30 % or higher. In conclusion, this longitudinal study is among the first to analyse measured healthcare cost data in relation to urban green space in general, and with differentiation between major types of greenery relevant to urban planning policies in cities around the world. In sum, this study advances an increasingly important and international focus of research by reporting on the lower burden of CVD and fewer associated hospitalisations stemming from upstream investments that protect and restore urban tree canopy, which not only translates into substantial reduced costs for the health sector, but also helps to create regenerative cities and flourishing communities.

Zero energy building optimization for a residential complex with a new optimized cogeneration system for electricity, cooling, heating and freshwater production

In this research, a multi-generation system was proposed to meet the energy consumption of a 120-unit zero-energy residential complex with 100 m2 and 2 bedrooms in Sydney, Australia. To meet the heating and cooling demand of the residential complex, a compression chiller was used, and electrical energy was provided using the system's production power. The main goal of this research is to define a zero-energy building by providing the energy consumption of a residential complex with a solar system. Building Energy Optimization (BEopt) Software has been used for the process of simulating the residential complex and extracting the required load of the residential complex. The design of the load supply system of the residential complex was done using EES thermodynamic software. In this research, a large number of inputs have been used in different scenarios to optimize the residential complex, and the tool used in this research by all the modes introduced as inputs turns the problem into a multi-objective optimization problem. The results of the investigation of the residential complex showed that the amount of electricity consumption, heating, and cooling of the residential complex during the year is 36728, 133123, and 17,902 kWh, respectively. Also, by optimizing the energy consumption of the residential complex, it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions and prevent the increase in environmental pollution. The optimal results showed that the system in its most optimal state can reach an exergy efficiency of 25.18 % and a system cost rate of 46.6 $/h. The performance of the system in the city of Sydney showed that the system can produce 166,164 kWh of electricity, 467,945 kWh of heating, and 183,370 kWh of cooling in one year. Comparing the results of residential complex consumption load and system production showed that the proposed system can easily provide the residential complex consumption load throughout the year.

Identification of Rainfall Events and Heavy Rainfall Events From Radar Measurements in Southeastern Australia

AbstractRadar data can be of significant utility in investigating characteristics of rainfall events that cannot be studied with rain gauges alone. The recent establishment of a long‐term, quality‐controlled data set covering most of the radars on the Australian continent enables a deeper characterization of rainfall, including heavy rainfall events. This study develops a methodology to identify and characterize rainfall events from radar data and tests its utility by applying it to the regions surrounding the major cities of Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne. The event characteristics studied include rainfall accumulation and intensity, event duration and spatial extent, and the contribution convective areas make to the overall event rainfall. Rainfall events in Brisbane and Sydney are found to be more intense, more convective, and smaller in extent whilst producing larger rainfall accumulations than Melbourne rainfall events. Rainfall event duration and total accumulated rainfall are strongly positively correlated, as are the overall event intensity and the intensity of convective rainfall. The events that produce the largest rainfall accumulations exhibit significant differences from the events that produce the highest rainfall intensities. Overall, the study demonstrates that long‐term radar data sets in Australia provide an invaluable and rich source to study rainfall characteristics in a variety of regions at a high spatial and temporal resolution.

COVID-19 and working from home-related changes in physical activity in Sydney, Australia.

Evidence on how COVID-19 lockdowns impacted physical activity (PA) is mixed. This study explores changes in PA following initial mobility restrictions, and their subsequent relaxation, in a sample of Sydney (Australia) residents using a natural experiment methodology. Participants' health and travel behaviours were collected pre-pandemic in late 2019 (n = 1937), with follow-up waves during the pandemic in 2020 (n = 1706) and 2021 (n = 1514). Linear mixed-effects models were used to analyse changes in weekly duration of PA between the three waves. Compared with pre-pandemic, average weekly PA increased in 2021 by 42.6 min total PA (p = .001), 16 min walking PA (p = .02), and 26.4 min moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) (p = .003). However, average weekly sessions of PA decreased in 2020 and remained lower in 2021. For participants who were sufficiently active in 2019, weekly total PA (-66.3 min) MVPA (-43.8 min) decreased in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic. Conversely, among participants who were insufficiently active in 2019, average weekly PA increased in both 2020 (total PA, +99.1 min; walking PA, +46.4 min; MVPA +52.8 min) and 2021 (total PA, +117.8 min; walking PA, +58.4 min; MVPA +59.2 min), compared to 2019. Participants who did more work from home increased their average weekly total PA in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic (+45.3 min). These findings reveal the complex variability in PA behaviour brought about by the pandemic. SO WHAT?: Strategies to support the population in achieving sufficient PA must focus on maintaining an appetite for PA as we move out of the pandemic and on promoting more frequent PA sessions.

Liveability at Risk

Abstract It is now recognized that the majority of people who will be adversely affected by climate change will live in cities. It is time for a public theology to explore how its resources might be put to use in the service of extreme cities in the era of the Anthropocene. The city of Sydney provides a rather surprising case study for such. Through 2019/2020 it was subject to succession of extreme heat, fire in its surrounds, followed by the pandemic and then five floods. It had just been deemed to be the world’s third most liveable city. In these matters theology is not the lead discipline. It is seldom invoked and invited to be placed along many other fields of knowledge in this knot of transdisciplinary challenges. It has been claimed that the future in the Anthropocene is likely to be ugly and cities will be marked by precarity. It is time for a public theology to consider the potential plight of cities and develop ahead of time – in ordinary time – a pattern of understanding and moral practice. For that to be possible it is critical for such a theology to heed the theoretical work being done in the fields that comprise an Earth System science.

Integrating asset-specific flood vulnerability assessments with value-based preservation processes to develop the Heritage Building Flood Robustness Toolkit

Climate change is posing a growing threat to cultural heritage buildings, and many cities lack the capacity to manage these risks. One significant challenge is flooding, which can cause significant damage to heritage buildings. A literature review identified gaps in current research on heritage adaptation, including: a lack of tools for assessing the vulnerability of asset-specific cultural heritage buildings to flooding and providing recommendations for adaptation; limited examples of successful architectural adaptation of cultural heritage buildings to flooding impacts; and insufficient consideration of values, such as aesthetic, in adaptation tools. In response to these gaps, we developed a Heritage Building Flood Robustness Toolkit that incorporates both architectural and engineering considerations. The Toolkit is designed as a decision support tool to assist asset owners and key stakeholders, such as community groups, to make more quantified and informed decisions on heritage adaptation. The Toolkit includes three key advancements: an enhanced component-based methodology for individual cultural heritage building flood vulnerability assessments; improved recommendation of adaptation strategies aided by component-based risk assessments; and integration of user values, including aesthetic implications, into adaptation recommendations through adopting a Structured Decision-Making process. The Toolkit was tested on two buildings in Cockatoo Island, Sydney (Australia) with different materials and construction techniques. The results highlight the Toolkit's ability to support decision-making through more precisely assessed adaptation strategies based on asset-specific flood damage assessments and its sensitivity to user preferences, particularly aesthetic impacts from adaptation implementation. The Toolkit can be used as an instrument by planners, designers, and councils to enhance the protection of cultural heritage against flooding in the future.

Landscape, Socioeconomic, and Meteorological Risk Factors for Canine Leptospirosis in Urban Sydney (2017-2023): A Spatial and Temporal Study.

Leptospirosis is a potentially fatal zoonotic disease caused by infection with pathogenic Leptospira spp. We described reported clinical cases of canine leptospirosis in the council areas of the Inner West and the City of Sydney, Australia, from December 2017 to January 2023 and tested the association with urban spatial (landscape and socioeconomic factors, community seroprevalence, and urban heat island effect) and temporal (precipitation and minimum and maximum temperature) factors and the cases using log-transformed Poisson models, spatially stratified population-adjusted conditional logistic models, General Additive Models (GAMs), and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models. The results suggested that canine leptospirosis is now endemic in the study area. A longer distance to the nearest veterinary hospital (RR 0.118, 95% CI -4.205--0.065, p < 0.05) and a mildly compromised Index of Economic Resources (IER) (RR 0.202, 95% CI -3.124--0.079, p < 0.05) were significant protective factors against leptospirosis. In areas proximal to the clinical cases and seropositive samples, the presence of tree cover was a strong risk factor for higher odds of canine leptospirosis (OR 5.80, 95% CI 1.12-30.11, p < 0.05). As the first study exploring risk factors associated with canine leptospirosis in urban Sydney, our findings indicate a potential transmission from urban green spaces and the possibility of higher exposure to Leptospira-or increased case detection and reporting-in areas adjacent to veterinary hospitals.

Letting the plants speak: Law, landscape and conservation.

The Botany Wetlands are the contemporary remnant of a formerly extensive coastal freshwater wetland in the inner-urban suburbs of Sydney (Australia). This site supports a range of ecosystem services, including human physical and mental health benefits, filtration of stormwater runoff from a highly urban and industrial catchment, and accommodation space for floodwater. The wetlands also provide habitat to migratory water birds and act as a connective habitat corridor and refuge for native flora and fauna including endangered ecological communities recognised in state and national legislation. Current management strategies and 'on the ground' practices are informed by a hierarchy of laws and management plans that act to create and reinforce a specific narrative in the material landscape. Here we consider the ecological history of the wetlands, derived from paleoecological data, in the context of this complex network of governance entanglements. We argue that the system bears little resemblance to its long-term character and has been made and continually re-made by a portmanteau of inflexible regulatory structures. We suggest that maintaining ecosystem services in such a complex, hybridized sociolegal-biophysical system requires a critical view of both the power relations and physical processes that shape it.

In Case You Haven't Heard…

You've heard it from the pro‐legalization advocates for years: Cannabis reduces illicit drug use. No, it doesn't, as studies have shown, most recently one published Nov. 29 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. For the study, “The Long‐Term Relationship Between Cannabis and Heroin Use: An 18‐ to 20‐year Follow‐Up of the Australian Treatment Outcome Study (ATOS),” researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia followed 615 people with heroin dependence for more than 20 years; many of the users also used cannabis. There was no evidence that illicit opioid use was reduced.

Microglial phenotype and proinflammatory gene induction in human prefrontal cortex in Alcohol Use Disorder overlap with Alzheimer’s Disease

AbstractBackgroundAlcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and heavy alcohol abuse are associated with dementia. However, studies focused on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) tend to exclude heavy alcohol drinking patients. We hypothesize microglial phenotype changes in AUD contribute to degeneration that parallels AD.MethodOrbital frontal cortex (OFC) from moderate drinking controls and heavy drinking AUD individuals paired by age were obtained from the New South Wales Tissue Resource Center in Sydney Australia. Tissue blocks were used for RTPCR gene mRNA and paraffin sections for immunohistochemistry assessment of microglial and proinflammatory genes and proteins, respectively. Fluoro‐Jade B, TUNEL stain and neuron marker NeuN were used to assess degeneration.ResultAUD OFC expressed increased levels of proinflammatory HMGB1, RAGE, and multiple Toll‐like receptors (TLR). In addition, AUD OFC increased expression of the TLR adaptor protein myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88), NFκB, and proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and their corresponding receptors. Iba1, a marker of monocytes and microglia, is increased in AUD, but not mRNA levels. Macrophage‐1 antigen, a complement receptor, is increased in AUD cortex as is CX3C chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1), the fractalkine receptor. OX42 staining (CD11b) in also increased. Microglial markers P2ry12, and CSF1R also show greater cellular staining in human AUD. The lysosomal scavenger receptor marker CD68 is also increased in AUD cortex. CX3CR1 and CD11b mRNA are increased in AUD cortex, but not CD68. Interestingly, TMEM119, a specific microglial marker, is decreased in AUD, both mRNA and protein staining in contrast to other markers increasing. Assessment of DNA oxidation using 8‐hydroxy‐2'‐deoxyguanosine (8‐OHdG) a biomarker of oxidative DNA/RNA damage 8‐OHdG+IR indicated AUD more than doubled cortical cells with this marker. Induction of HMGB1‐TLR‐MyD88‐NFκB proinflammatory signaling pathways, oxidative stress and microglial activation correlate with markers of neurodegeneration.ConclusionThe increased expression of TLR receptors, MyD88 and NFkB and increased proinflammatory cytokines are consistent with increased microglial activation and oxidative stress induced degeneration. Studies support alcohol activated microglia‐monocytes as driving loss of NeuN and other neurodegeneration markers. The reduced TMEM119 level with other markers increasing may indicate monocytes are replacing microglia in AUD cortex.

Use of metadiscourse for identity construction in tourist city publicity：A comparative study of Chinese and Australian social media discourse

Social media publicity has become an important way for the official tourism agency to promote the city image and interact with the public. In order to explore the linguistic devices that support tourist city publicity, a corpus-based comparative study is conducted on the use of metadiscourse and identity construction in Facebook posts on the public pages of the city Xiamen in China and Sydney in Australia. The corpus consists of 344 posts with a total of 12, 175 words on the page of Xiamen and 315 posts with a total of 12, 319 words on the page of Sydney collected over the same 1-year time span. Combining the statistical results of metadiscourse use and identity types with the analysis of specific examples, it is concluded that both posters use three categories of metadiscourse to construct the identities of introducer, inviter and evaluator for the purpose of promoting good city image and forming good interaction with the public. The differences in the frequencies of metadicourse and identity occurrences in the two corpora suggest different focuses on city publicity. This study has implications for the writing of tourist city publicity posts as well as raising posters’ awareness of employing metadiscourse to construct identity and build rapport with readers so as to enhance the impact of the tourist cities.

Modeling package delivery acceptance in Crowdshipping systems by Public Transportation Passengers: A latent class approach

The subject of this research is to model the probability of accepting package delivery tasks in Crowd-Shipping (CS) systems focusing on shipping packages by Public Transportation (PT) passengers. Real-world implementation of such a PT-based CS initiative requires a proper grasp of the behavior of crowd shippers, package receivers, and senders, among which crowdshippers are at the center of attention. Given survey data collected from 2,208PT passengers in the Sydney metropolitan area, this study constructs a model for package delivery task acceptance among PT passengers who express a willingness to participate as crowdshippers. A Latent Class (LC) choice model is developed and estimated to explore different classes of participant characteristics and preferences for accepting CS delivery tasks, under different levels of offered incentive, package weight, and required detour distance at the destination. As a key finding, the model identifies three classes, namely “leisurely”, “avid”, and “skeptical” users with class sizes of 19%, 53%, and 28%, respectively. Leisurely users tend to be majorly employed with relatively higher ages and lower PT trip frequency per month. This class shows a potential desire to take CS tasks as long as they are not logistically burdensome. Avid users, forming the largest class of the population, are mostly younger PT passengers who are less sensitive to task difficulty and might accept even CS tasks with minimum incentives (around AU$3). Skeptical users, displaying high PT trip frequency per month and high income, are unwilling to accept the CS tasks unless get compensated well.

Analysis of Climate Conditions upon Driving Distance of Vehicle Integrated Photovoltaics‐Powered Vehicles

The development of the vehicles powered by photovoltaic (PV) is desirable and very important for reducing CO2 emissions from the transport sector to realize a decarbonized society. Although long‐distance driving of vehicle‐integrated PV (VIPV)‐powered vehicles without electricity charging is expected in sunny regions, driving distance of VIPV‐powered vehicles is affected by climate conditions such as solar irradiation and outside temperature, and the power consumption of the air conditioners. In this article, analytical results for system efficiency of VIPV‐powered vehicles and the effects of usage of air conditioner are presented by using power losses estimated from the electric mileage by using the driving distance data for Toyota Prius and Nissan Van demonstration cars installed with high‐efficiency InGaP/GaAs/InGaAs three‐junction solar cell modules with a module efficiency of more than 30%. The potential of VIPV‐powered vehicles to be deployed in major cities in Japan and the world is also analyzed. Mild weather cities such as Miyazaki in Japan and Sydney in Australia are thought to have longer driving range even under usage of air conditioners. The other power losses for the VIPV such as temperature rise of VIPV modules and partial shading estimate the previous data and some reference as well as effects of usage of air‐conditioners are also discussed in this article.

Sydney’s Ordinary Outliers: Long-Distance Commuting and Outer Metropolitan Coastal Suburbanization, 1945-2001

From 1945 to the end of the twentieth century, the Central Coast region adjacent to Australia’s largest city—Sydney—grew from a population of 30,000 to nearly 300,000 people. This article examines the long-distance commuting that was integral to this growth. By the 1990s, around a third of the region’s workforce was regularly traveling distances of 50 kilometers or more each way to the main body of Sydney. For many, the Central Coast offered new opportunities not readily available elsewhere in the metropolitan area to access housing—whether they sought to buy or rent—within a distinct, increasingly esteemed, coastal landscape. Over time, this commuting was variously encouraged, resented, and problematized. While it had parallels to other parts of Sydney’s “commuter belt,” the region’s experience stands as a notable case study of the diversity of household values across work, housing, and mobility.

Working from home, active travel, health and wellbeing: Legacies of a pandemic

While many studies have explored the impact of COVID-19 and/or working from home (WFH) on the transport network and modal choice, relatively few have looked at the implications of WFH through the lens of physical activity (PA) and the role of active travel moving forward. Drawing from a survey of 1,165 Sydney (Australia) workers conducted in late 2020, after restrictions from the first COVID-19 wave were significantly eased across Australia, we explore the impact of the pandemic on perceived changes in WFH, active travel, physical health, and wellbeing. We identify three distinct segments of the population with differing active travel, PA and quality of life (QoL) outcomes: (1) ‘Active but Anxious’ (22%) – younger, higher income, largest increase in WFH, sitting relatively more, largest relative decrease in active commuting, increased relative PA and largest proportion who are physically active; (2) ‘Less Change, Less Worry’ (38%) – older and male, least change in WFH, least relative change in active commuting, sitting relatively less, largely sufficient PA, highest QoL; (3) ‘Stressed and Sedentary’ (40%) – average age, lower income, largest loss of paid work, highest levels of sitting, lowest PA and QoL. Given WFH remains a prevalent component of the travel activity matrix, we consider the implications of these heterogeneous outcomes for individuals, employers and policy-makers charged with shaping active travel policy and planning in a post-pandemic world.

Measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on colorectal cancer presentation: a retrospective comparative study.

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic provided challenges to surgical care in Australia. This study aimed to measure the potential impact of COVID-19 on colorectal cancer presentation through surgical volume and cancer staging at a major tertiary referral hospital in the city of Sydney Australia. A retrospective cohort study was performed using routinely collected data from consecutive colorectal cancer patients undergoing surgery during the COVID-19 period (1 March 2020 to 1 October 2021) and compared with the pre-COVID-19 period (1 March 2018 to 1 October 2019). The main outcomes included patient demographics, surgical volume (including overall, elective and emergency) and cancer staging. Differences in outcomes between the two studied periods were compared using Pearson's chi-squared test, Fisher test or t-test. A total of 381 patients composed the COVID-19 group (Mean age = 62.4 years) and 364 patients composed the pre-COVID-19 group (Mean age = 65.6 years; P<0.001). No significant differences were observed for overall, elective or emergency surgical volumes. Patients in the COVID-19 group had a reduction in Stage I and an increase in Stage II and III disease, with Stage IV and recurrent disease being similar with a variation of <1% when compared to the pre-COVID-19 group (P<0.001). Disruptions in patient screening, diagnosis and management from elective surgery restrictions and patient hesitancy may not have resulted in observed changes to surgical volume, however, it may have contributed to an increase in Stages II and III colorectal cancer during COVID-19.