The long-term impact of restricting cycling and walking during high air pollution days on all-cause mortality: Health impact Assessment study
Open accessAbstract
Regular active commuting, such as cycling and walking to and from the workplace, is associated with lower all-cause mortality through increased physical activity (PA). However, active commuting may increase intake of fine particles (PM2.5), causing negative health effects. The purpose of this study is to estimate the combined risk of PA and air pollution for all-cause mortality among active commuters who, on days with high PM2.5 levels, switch to commuting by public transportation or work from home. Towards this purpose, we developed a Health Impact Assessment model for six cities (Helsinki, London, Sao Paulo, Warsaw, Beijing, New Delhi) using daily, city-specific PM2.5 concentrations. For each city we estimated combined Relative Risk (RR) due to all-cause mortality for the PA benefits and PM2.5 risks with different thresholds concentrations. Everyday cycling to work resulted in annual all-cause mortality risk reductions ranging from 28 averted deaths per 1000 cyclists (95% confidence interval (CI): 20–38) in Sao Paolo to 12 averted deaths per 1000 cyclists (95% CI: 5–19) in Beijing. Similarly, for everyday walking, the reductions in annual all-cause mortality ranged from 23 averted deaths per 1000 pedestrians (95 CI: 16–31) in Sao Paolo to 10 averted deaths per 1000 pedestrians (95%CI: 5–16) in Beijing. Restricting active commuting during days with PM2.5 levels above specific air quality thresholds would not decrease all-cause mortality risk in any examined city. On the contrary, all-cause mortality risk would increase if walking and cycling are restricted in days with PM2.5 concentrations below 150 μg/m3 in highly polluted cities (Beijing, New Delhi). In all six cities, everyday active commuting reduced all-cause mortality when benefits of PA and risk or air pollution were combined. Switching to working from home or using public transport on days with high air pollution is not expected to lead to improved all-cause mortality risks.
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A shift to active, non-motorized transport achieves even larger health benefits than electrification of transport.
“However, a shift to active, non-motorized transport achieves even larger health benefits than electrification of transport 60,73”
From Demand-side solutions to climate change mitigation consistent with high levels of well-being (2022) · cites this paper as [73]
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- Authors
- Giallouros, G., Kouis, P., Papatheodorou, S. I., Woodcock, J., & Tainio, M.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Tainio, Marko
- Venue
- Environment International
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 140
- Pages
- 105679
- ISSN
- 0160-4120 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3020280268
- Cited by
- 46
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 3.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Environment International (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ktisis at Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Apollo
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Urban Transport and Accessibility
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
- Keywords
- active commuting, bicycle commuting, walking to work, all-cause mortality, PM2.5, air pollution, physical activity, health impact assessment, working from home, public transport, air quality thresholds, mortality averted
- MeSH terms
- Beijing, Air Pollutants, Air Pollution, Cities, London, Mortality, Walking, Particulate Matter, Health Impact Assessment
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