Publications
169 results found
Jerrett M, Donaire-Gonzalez D, Popoola O, et al., 2017, Validating novel air pollution sensors to improve exposure estimates for epidemiological analyses and citizen science, Environmental Research, Vol: 158, Pages: 286-294, ISSN: 0013-9351
Low cost, personal air pollution sensors may reduce exposure measurement errors in epidemiological investigations and contribute to citizen science initiatives. Here we assess the validity of a low cost personal air pollution sensor. Study participants were drawn from two ongoing epidemiological projects in Barcelona, Spain. Participants repeatedly wore the pollution sensor − which measured carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). We also compared personal sensor measurements to those from more expensive instruments. Our personal sensors had moderate to high correlations with government monitors with averaging times of 1-h and 30-min epochs (r ~ 0.38–0.8) for NO and CO, but had low to moderate correlations with NO2 (~0.04–0.67). Correlations between the personal sensors and more expensive research instruments were higher than with the government monitors. The sensors were able to detect high and low air pollution levels in agreement with expectations (e.g., high levels on or near busy roadways and lower levels in background residential areas and parks). Our findings suggest that the low cost, personal sensors have potential to reduce exposure measurement error in epidemiological studies and provide valid data for citizen science studies.
Avila-Palencia I, de Nazelle A, Cole-Hunter T, et al., 2017, The relationship between bicycle commuting and perceived stress: a cross-sectional study, BMJ Open, Vol: 7, ISSN: 2044-6055
Introduction Active commuting — walking and bicycling for travel to and/or from work or educational addresses — may facilitate daily, routine physical activity. Several studies have investigated the relationship between active commuting and commuting stress; however, there are no studies examining the relationship between solely bicycle commuting and perceived stress, or studies that account for environmental determinants of bicycle commuting and stress. The current study evaluated the relationship between bicycle commuting, among working or studying adults in a dense urban setting, and perceived stress.Methods A cross-sectional study was performed with 788 adults who regularly travelled to work or study locations (excluding those who only commuted on foot) in Barcelona, Spain. Participants responded to a comprehensive telephone survey concerning their travel behaviour from June 2011 through to May 2012. Participants were categorised as either bicycle commuters or non-bicycle commuters, and (based on the Perceived Stress Scale, PSS-4) as either stressed or non-stressed. Multivariate Poisson regression with robust variance models of stress status based on exposures with bicycle commuting were estimated and adjusted for potential confounders.Results Bicycle commuters had significantly lower risk of being stressed than non-bicycle commuters (Relative Risk; RR (95% CI)=0.73 (0.60 to 0.89), p=0.001). Bicycle commuters who bicycled 4 days per week (RR (95% CI)=0.42 (0.24 to 0.73), p=0.002) and those who bicycled 5 or more days per week (RR (95% CI)=0.57 (0.42 to 0.77), p<0.001) had lower risk of being stressed than those who bicycled less than 4 days. This relationship remained statistically significant after adjusting for individual and environmental confounders and when using different cut-offs of perceived stress.Conclusions Stress reduction may be an important consequence of routine bicycle use and should be considered
Boig EA, de Nazelle A, Gotschi T, et al., 2017, Behaviour Change Towards Cycling in 7 Case Study Cities, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S103-S104, ISSN: 2214-1405
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- Citations: 1
Laeremans M, Gotschi T, Dons E, et al., 2017, Does an Increase in Walking and Cycling Translate into a Higher Overall Physical Activity Level?, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S20-S20, ISSN: 2214-1405
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- Citations: 2
de Nazelle A, Smeds E, Boig EA, et al., 2017, A Comparison between Literature Findings and Stakeholder Perspectives on Active Travel Promotion, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S69-S70, ISSN: 2214-1405
Avila-Palencia I, Panis LI, de Nazelle A, et al., 2017, Active Mobility and Subjective General Health: Roles of Mental Health, Social Support and Physical Activity, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S76-S76, ISSN: 2214-1405
Boig EA, de Nazelle A, Gotschi T, et al., 2017, Building and Testing an Evaluation Model of the Impact of Cycling Policies, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S52-S53, ISSN: 2214-1405
Dons E, Laeremans M, Boig EA, et al., 2017, NO<sub>2</sub> but Not PM<sub>2.5</sub> at the Home Address is Associated with Concern over Health Effects of Air Pollution, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S94-S94, ISSN: 2214-1405
Laeremans M, Dons E, Avila-Palencia I, et al., 2017, Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in Daily Life: A Comparative Analysis of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) and the Sensewear Armband, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S68-S69, ISSN: 2214-1405
Dons E, Gotschi T, Rojas-Rueda D, et al., 2017, Male Car Drivers Are 4kg Heavier Than Cyclists: Results from a Cross-Sectional Analysis in Seven European Cities, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S27-S28, ISSN: 2214-1405
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Kahlmeier S, Boig EA, Smeds E, et al., 2017, Developing a Score to Assess the Policy Environment for Cycling and Walking Promotion in Cities Results of a Feasibility Study, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 5, Pages: S18-S19, ISSN: 2214-1405
Rojas-Rueda D, Brand C, Clark A, et al., 2017, Comprehensive Health Impact Assessment for Active Travel: The "Pasta" Project Approach, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD, Pages: S86-S87, ISSN: 2214-1405
Mueller N, Rojas-Rueda D, Salmon M, et al., 2017, Health Impact Assessment of Cycling Network Expansions in European Cities, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD, Pages: S9-S10, ISSN: 2214-1405
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- Citations: 4
Raser E, Gaupp-Berghausen M, Wegener S, et al., 2017, European Cyclists' Travel Behaviour: Differences and Similarities Between Seven European Cities, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD, Pages: S28-S29, ISSN: 2214-1405
Avila-Palencia I, Laeremans M, Orjuela JP, et al., 2017, Active Mobility and Blood Pressure: Roles of Black Carbon and Physical Activity, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD, Pages: S37-S37, ISSN: 2214-1405
Pierotti L, Iwinska K, Blicharska M, et al., 2017, A Comparison of Habits and Perceptions Towards Cycling in Warsaw, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD, Pages: S106-S107, ISSN: 2214-1405
Woodcock J, Tainio M, de Sa TH, et al., 2017, Towards an Integrated Global Transport and Health Assessment Tool (TIGTHAT), Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD, Pages: S99-S100, ISSN: 2214-1405
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- Citations: 4
Laeremans M, Dons E, Avila-Palencia I, et al., 2017, Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in daily life: A comparative analysis of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) and the SenseWear armband, PLOS One, Vol: 12, ISSN: 1932-6203
Reduction of sedentary time and an increase in physical activity offer potential to improve public health. However, quantifying physical activity behaviour under real world conditions is a major challenge and no standard of good practice is available. Our aim was to compare the results of physical activity and sedentary behaviour obtained with a self-reported instrument (Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ)) and a wearable sensor (SenseWear) in a repeated measures study design. Healthy adults (41 in Antwerp, 41 in Barcelona and 40 in London) wore the SenseWear armband for seven consecutive days and completed the GPAQ on the final day. This was repeated three times. We used the Wilcoxon signed rank sum test, Spearman correlation coefficients, mixed effects regression models and Bland-Altman plots to study agreement between both methods. Mixed models were used to assess the effect of personal characteristics on the absolute and relative difference between estimates obtained with the GPAQ and SenseWear. Moderate to vigorous energy expenditure and duration derived from the GPAQ were significantly lower (p<0.05) compared to the SenseWear, yet these variables showed significant correlations ranging from 0.45 to 0.64. Estimates of vigorous-intensity physical activity in particular showed high similarity (r>0.59). Results for sedentary behaviour did not differ, yet were poorly correlated (r<0.25). The differences between all variables were reproducible across repeated measurements. In addition, we observed a relationship between these differences and BMI, body fat and physical activity domain. Due to the lack of a standardized protocol, results from different studies measuring physical activity and sedentary behaviour are difficult to compare. Therefore, we suggested an easy-to-implement approach for future studies adding the GPAQ to the wearable of choice as a basis for comparisons.
Ahern SM, Arnott B, Chatterton T, et al., 2017, Understanding parents' school travel choices: A qualitative study using the Theoretical Domains Framework, JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT & HEALTH, Vol: 4, Pages: 278-293, ISSN: 2214-1405
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- Citations: 46
Dons E, Laeremans M, Orjuela JP, et al., 2017, Wearable sensors for personal monitoring and estimation of inhaled traffic-related air pollution: evaluation of methods, Environmental Science and Technology, Vol: 51, Pages: 1859-1867, ISSN: 0013-936X
Physical activity and ventilation rates have an effect on an individual’s dose and may be important to consider in exposure–response relationships; however, these factors are often ignored in environmental epidemiology studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate methods of estimating the inhaled dose of air pollution and understand variability in the absence of a true gold standard metric. Five types of methods were identified: (1) methods using (physical) activity types, (2) methods based on energy expenditure, METs (metabolic equivalents of task), and oxygen consumption, (3) methods based on heart rate or (4) breathing rate, and (5) methods that combine heart and breathing rate. Methods were compared using a real-life data set of 122 adults who wore devices to track movement, black carbon air pollution, and physiological health markers for 3 weeks in three European cities. Different methods for estimating minute ventilation performed well in relative terms with high correlations among different methods, but in absolute terms, ignoring increased ventilation during day-to-day activities could lead to an underestimation of the daily dose by a factor of 0.08–1.78. There is no single best method, and a multitude of methods are currently being used to approximate the dose. The choice of a suitable method for determining the dose in future studies will depend on both the size and the objectives of the study.
de Nazelle A, Bode O, Orjuela JP, 2016, Comparison of air pollution exposures in active vs. passive travel modes in European cities: A quantitative review, Environment International, Vol: 99, Pages: 151-160, ISSN: 0160-4120
Background:Transport microenvironments tend to have higher air pollutant concentrations than other settings most people encounter in their daily lives. The choice of travel modes may affect significantly individuals' exposures; however such considerations are typically not accounted for in exposure assessment used in environmental health studies. In particular, with increasing interest in the promotion of active travel, health impact studies that attempt to estimate potential adverse consequences of potential increased pollutant inhalation during walking or cycling have emerged. Such studies require a quantification of relative exposures in travel modes.Methods:The literature on air pollution exposures in travel microenvironments in Europe was reviewed. Studies which measured various travel modes including at least walking or cycling in a simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous design were selected. Data from these studies were harmonized to allow for a quantitative synthesis of the estimates. Ranges of ratios and 95% confidence interval (CI) of air pollution exposure between modes and between background and transportation modes were estimated.Results:Ten studies measuring fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon (BC), ultrafine particles (UFP), and/or carbon monoxide (CO) in the walk, bicycle, car and/or bus modes were included in the analysis. Only three reported on CO and BC and results should be interpreted with caution. Pedestrians were shown to be the most consistently least exposed of all across studies, with the bus, bicycle and car modes on average 1.3 to 1.5 times higher for PM2.5; 1.1 to 1.7 times higher for UFP; and 1.3 to 2.9 times higher for CO; however the 95% CI included 1 for the UFP walk to bus ratio. Only for BC were pedestrians more exposed than bus users on average (bus to walk ratio 0.8), but remained less exposed than those on bicycles or in cars. Car users tended to be the most exposed (from 2.9 times higher than pedestrians for BC down to si
Jedynska A, Hoek G, Wang M, et al., 2016, Spatial variations and development of land use regression models of oxidative potential in ten European study areas, ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT, Vol: 150, Pages: 24-32, ISSN: 1352-2310
Donaire-Gonzalez D, Valentin A, de Nazelle A, et al., 2016, Benefits of Mobile Phone Technology for Personal Environmental Monitoring, JMIR mHealth and uHealth, Vol: 4, ISSN: 2291-5222
Background: Tracking individuals in environmental epidemiological studies using novel mobile phone technologies can provide valuable information on geolocation and physical activity, which will improve our understanding of environmental exposures.Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the performance of one of the least expensive mobile phones on the market to track people's travel-activity pattern.Methods: Adults living and working in Barcelona (72/162 bicycle commuters) carried simultaneously a mobile phone and a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracker and filled in a travel-activity diary (TAD) for 1 week (N=162). The CalFit app for mobile phones was used to log participants’ geographical location and physical activity. The geographical location data were assigned to different microenvironments (home, work or school, in transit, others) with a newly developed spatiotemporal map-matching algorithm. The tracking performance of the mobile phones was compared with that of the GPS trackers using chi-square test and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test. The minute agreement across all microenvironments between the TAD and the algorithm was compared using the Gwet agreement coefficient (AC1).Results: The mobile phone acquired locations for 905 (29.2%) more trips reported in travel diaries than the GPS tracker (P<.001) and had a median accuracy of 25 m. Subjects spent on average 57.9%, 19.9%, 9.0%, and 13.2% of time at home, work, in transit, and other places, respectively, according to the TAD and 57.5%, 18.8%, 11.6%, and 12.1%, respectively, according to the map-matching algorithm. The overall minute agreement between both methods was high (AC1 .811, 95% CI .810-.812).Conclusions: The use of mobile phones running the CalFit app provides better information on which microenvironments people spend their time in than previous approaches based only on GPS trackers. The improvements of mobile phone technology in microenvironment determination are because the m
de Hoogh K, Gulliver J, van Donkelaar A, et al., 2016, Development of West-European PM2.5 and NO2 land use regression models incorporating satellite-derived and chemical transport modelling data, ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, Vol: 151, Pages: 1-10, ISSN: 0013-9351
Braun LM, Rodriguez DA, Cole-Hunter T, et al., 2016, Short-term planning and policy interventions to promote cycling in urban centers: Findings from a commute mode choice analysis in Barcelona, Spain, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Vol: 89, Pages: 164-183, ISSN: 0965-8564
Background: Cycling for transportation has become an increasingly important component of strategies to address public health, climate change, and air quality concerns in urban centers. Within this context, planners and policy makers would benefit from an improved understanding of available interventions and their relative effectiveness for cycling promotion. We examined predictors of bicycle commuting that are relevant to planning and policy intervention, particularly those amenable to short- and medium-term action. Methods: We estimated a travel mode choice model using data from a survey of 765 commuters who live and work within the municipality of Barcelona. We considered how the decision to commute by bicycle was associated with cycling infrastructure, bike share availability, travel demand incentives, and other environmental attributes (e.g., public transport availability). Self-reported and objective (GIS-based) measures were compared. Point elasticities and marginal effects were calculated to assess the relative explanatory power of the independent variables considered. Results: While both self-reported and objective measures of access to cycling infrastructure were associated with bicycle commuting, self-reported measures had stronger associations. Bicycle commuting had positive associations with access to bike share stations but inverse associations with access to public transport stops. Point elasticities suggested that bicycle commuting has a mild negative correlation with public transport availability (-0.136), bike share availability is more important at the work location (0.077) than at home (0.034), and bicycle lane presence has a relatively small association with bicycle commuting (0.039). Marginal effects suggested that provision of an employer-based incentive not to commute by private vehicle would be associated with an 11.3% decrease in the probability of commuting by bicycle, likely reflecting the typical emphasis of such incentives on public tran
Tainio M, de Nazelle AJ, Götschi T, et al., 2016, Can air pollution negate the health benefits of cycling and walking?, Preventive Medicine, Vol: 87, Pages: 233-236, ISSN: 1096-0260
Active travel (cycling, walking) is beneficial for the health due to increased physical activity (PA). However, active travel may increase the intake of air pollution, leading to negative health consequences. We examined the risk–benefit balance between active travel related PA and exposure to air pollution across a range of air pollution and PA scenarios.The health effects of active travel and air pollution were estimated through changes in all-cause mortality for different levels of active travel and air pollution. Air pollution exposure was estimated through changes in background concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ranging from 5 to 200 μg/m3. For active travel exposure, we estimated cycling and walking from 0 up to 16 h per day, respectively. These refer to long-term average levels of active travel and PM2.5 exposure.For the global average urban background PM2.5 concentration (22 μg/m3) benefits of PA by far outweigh risks from air pollution even under the most extreme levels of active travel. In areas with PM2.5 concentrations of 100 μg/m3, harms would exceed benefits after 1 h 30 min of cycling per day or more than 10 h of walking per day. If the counterfactual was driving, rather than staying at home, the benefits of PA would exceed harms from air pollution up to 3 h 30 min of cycling per day. The results were sensitive to dose–response function (DRF) assumptions for PM2.5 and PA.PA benefits of active travel outweighed the harm caused by air pollution in all but the most extreme air pollution concentrations.
Rojas-Rueda D, de Nazelle A, Andersen ZJ, et al., 2016, Health impacts of active transportation in Europe, PLOS One, Vol: 11, ISSN: 1932-6203
Policies that stimulate active transportation (walking and bicycling) have been related to heath benefits. This study aims to assess the potential health risks and benefits of promoting active transportation for commuting populations (age groups 16–64) in six European cities. We conducted a health impact assessment using two scenarios: increased cycling and increased walking. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality related to changes in physical activity level, exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution with a diameter <2.5 μm, as well as traffic fatalities in the cities of Barcelona, Basel, Copenhagen, Paris, Prague, and Warsaw. All scenarios produced health benefits in the six cities. An increase in bicycle trips to 35% of all trips (as in Copenhagen) produced the highest benefits among the different scenarios analysed in Warsaw 113 (76–163) annual deaths avoided, Prague 61 (29–104), Barcelona 37 (24–56), Paris 37 (18–64) and Basel 5 (3–9). An increase in walking trips to 50% of all trips (as in Paris) resulted in 19 (3–42) deaths avoided annually in Warsaw, 11(3–21) in Prague, 6 (4–9) in Basel, 3 (2–6) in Copenhagen and 3 (2–4) in Barcelona. The scenarios would also reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the six cities by 1,139 to 26,423 (metric tonnes per year). Policies to promote active transportation may produce health benefits, but these depend of the existing characteristics of the cities. Increased collaboration between health practitioners, transport specialists and urban planners will help to introduce the health perspective in transport policies and promote active transportation.
Curto A, de Nazelle A, Donaire-Gonzalez D, et al., 2016, Private and public modes of bicycle commuting: a perspective on attitude and perception., European Journal of Public Health, Vol: 26, Pages: 717-723, ISSN: 1464-360X
BACKGROUND: Public bicycle-sharing initiatives can act as health enhancement strategies among urban populations. The aim of the study was to determine which attitudes and perceptions of behavioural control toward cycling and a bicycle-sharing system distinguish commuters with a different adherence to bicycle commuting. METHODS: The recruitment process was conducted in 40 random points in Barcelona from 2011 to 2012. Subjects completed a telephone-based questionnaire including 27 attitude and perception statements. Based on their most common one-way commute trip and willingness to commute by bicycle, subjects were classified into Private Bicycle (PB), public bicycle or Bicing Bicycle (BB), Willing Non-bicycle (WN) and Non-willing Non-bicycle (NN) commuters. After reducing the survey statements through principal component analysis, a multinomial logistic regression model was obtained to evaluate associations between attitudinal and commuter sub-groups. RESULTS: We included 814 adults in the analysis [51.6% female, mean (SD): age 36.6 (10.3) years]. BB commuters were 2.0 times [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.1-3.7] less likely to perceive bicycle as a quick, flexible and enjoyable mode compared to PB. BB, WN and NN were 2.5 (95% CI = 1.46-4.24), 2.6 (95% CI = 1.53-4.41) and 2.3 times (95% CI = 1.30-4.10) more likely to perceive benefits of using public bicycles (bicycle maintenance and parking avoidance, low cost and no worries about theft and vandalism) than did PB. CONCLUSION: Willing non-bicycle and public-bicycle commuters had more favourable perception toward public-shared bicycles compared to private cyclists. Hence, public bicycles may be the impetus for those willing to start bicycle commuting, thereby increasing physical activity levels.
Guxens M, Ghassabian A, Gong T, et al., 2016, Air Pollution Exposure during Pregnancy and Childhood Autistic Traits in Four European Population-Based Cohort Studies: The ESCAPE Project., Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol: 124, Pages: 133-140, ISSN: 1552-9924
BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to air pollutants has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess whether prenatal air pollution exposure is associated with childhood autistic traits in the general population. METHODS: Ours was a collaborative study of four European population-based birth/child cohorts-CATSS (Sweden), Generation R (the Netherlands), GASPII (Italy), and INMA (Spain). Nitrogen oxides (NO2, NOx) and particulate matter (PM) with diameters of ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), ≤ 10 μm (PM10), and between 2.5 and 10 μm (PMcoarse), and PM2.5 absorbance were estimated for birth addresses by land-use regression models based on monitoring campaigns performed between 2008 and 2011. Levels were extrapolated back in time to exact pregnancy periods. We quantitatively assessed autistic traits when the child was between 4 and 10 years of age. Children were classified with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range and within the clinical range using validated cut-offs. Adjusted cohort-specific effect estimates were combined using random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 8,079 children were included. Prenatal air pollution exposure was not associated with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range (odds ratio = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.10 per each 10-μg/m3 increase in NO2 pregnancy levels). Similar results were observed in the different cohorts, for the other pollutants, and in assessments of children with autistic traits within the clinical range or children with autistic traits as a quantitative score. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exposure to NO2 and PM was not associated with autistic traits in children from 4 to 10 years of age in four European population-based birth/child cohort studies. CITATION: Guxens M, Ghassabian A, Gong T, Garcia-Esteban R, Porta D, Giorgis-Allemand L, Almqvist C, Aranbarri A, Beelen R, Badaloni C, Cesaroni G, de Nazelle A, Estarlich M, Fora
Gerike R, de Nazelle A, Nieuwenhuijsen M, et al., 2016, Physical Activity through Sustainable Transport Approaches (PASTA): a study protocol for a multicentre project, BMJ Open, Vol: 6, ISSN: 2044-6055
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