The purpose of this study was to update the evidence on the health benefits of cycling. A systematic review of the literature resulted in 16 cycling-specific studies. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies showed a clear positive relationship between cycling and cardiorespiratory fitness in youths. Prospective observational studies demonstrated a strong inverse relationship between commuter cycling and all-cause mortality, cancer mortality, and cancer morbidity among middle-aged to elderly subjects. Intervention studies among working-age adults indicated consistent improvements in cardiovascular fitness and some improvements in cardiovascular risk factors due to commuting cycling. Six studies showed a consistent positive dose-response gradient between the amount of cycling and the health benefits. Systematic assessment of the quality of the studies showed most of them to be of moderate to high quality. According to standard criteria used primarily for the assessment of clinical studies, the strength of this evidence was strong for fitness benefits, moderate for benefits in cardiovascular risk factors, and inconclusive for all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality, cancer risk, and overweight and obesity. While more intervention research is needed to build a solid knowledge base of the health benefits of cycling, the existing evidence reinforces the current efforts to promote cycling as an important contributor for better population health.

Key words: health promotion through physical activity, sports analysis in different types of sports, aerobic fitness/VO2max, intervention effectiveness, evidence based reviews Word count: 4526 (without abstract, references, figure/table legends, new findings) 2 Health benefits of different sport disciplines for adults: systematic review of observational and intervention studies with meta-analysis ABSTRACT Health impacts of physical activity are extensively documented but less is known about the health benefits of sports. The aim was to assess the quality and strength of the evidence for the health benefits of specific sport disciplines up to April 2013.Electronic search of six databases yielded 2194 records. Selection against inclusion/exclusion criteria resulted in 69 eligible studies with 47 cross-sectional, nine cohort and 13 intervention designs. After data extraction and synthesis the quality of the studies and the strength of the evidence were assessed. Six football interventions provided sufficient data for meta-analyses.105 comparisons between participation and non-participation groups in 26 different sport disciplines were reported. Most comparisons comprised running, football, gymnastics, cycling, and swimming. The quality of eight cohort studies was rated high or moderate and that of all intervention studies moderate or weak.Intervention and cohort studies showed moderately strong evidence that both running and football improve aerobic fitness and cardiovascular function at rest, and football reduces adiposity. The effects of football were confirmed and quantified by meta-analysis. Conditional evidence showed that running benefits metabolic fitness and adiposity, and that football improves metabolic fitness, and muscular performance and results in positive cardiac adaptations. All these benefits apply to both adult women and men. Evidence for health benefits of swimming, recreational cycling and other sport disciplines was either inconclusive or tenuous.This review demonstrates that the evidence base (up to April 2013) for the health benefits of specific sports disciplines is generally compromised by weak study design and quality. The exception is for running and cycling which provide the strongest evidence for positive effects. Future research should address the health effects of different sport disciplines using rigorous research designs. Word count: 2613

Context-The Global Positioning System (GPS) represents an innovative way to objectively assess the spatial locations of physical activity behavior.Purpose-The aim of this systematic review was to determine the capability of GPS to collect high quality data on the location of activities in research on the relationship between physical activity and the environment.Evidence acquisition-Published and unpublished articles identified from seven electronic databases, reference lists, bibliographies and websites up to March 2010 were systematically searched for, appraised and analysed in summer 2010. Included studies used GPS to measure the spatial locations of physical activity and some form of environmental analysis related to the GPS data. The capability of GPS was expressed in terms of data quality which in turn was defined as the proportion of GPS data lost in each study.Evidence synthesis-24 studies met the inclusion criteria. Data loss was positively correlated with the measurement period for which participants were asked to wear the GPS device (r=0.81, p<0.001). Major reasons for data loss included signal drop outs, loss of device battery power, and poor adherence of participants to measurement protocols. Data loss did not differ significantly between children and adults or by study sample size, year of publication or GPS device manufacturer.Conclusions-GPS is a promising tool for improving our understanding of the spatial context of physical activity. Our findings suggest that the choice of an appropriate device and efforts to maximise participant adherence are key improving data quality, especially over longer study periods. ContextPhysical inactivity is associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. 1 Various strategies have been proposed to encourage populations to become more physically active. 2,3 A multilevel approach is increasingly advocated [4][5][6][7] as social ecological models of health posit that policies and changes in the natural and built environment which encourage physically active lifestyles may be as important as interventions at the individual or social level. Recently, two principal approaches have been used to assess potentially relevant environmental characteristics related to physical activity (PA): the assessment of environmental perceptions using questionnaires such as the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS), 8 its short version NEWS-A 9 or the European Project ALPHA questionnaire; 10 and the objective assessment of the environment using either audit instruments or Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Whilst audits have a number of benefits, auditing is time-consuming and expensive for larger areas. In contrast, GIS provide an efficient tool for collating and synthesizing routinely available environmental data for large areas. 11,12 The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite based global navigation system that provides a precise location at any point on the Earth's surface. GPS was initially ...

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Background/Aim Evidence for the long-term health effects of specific sport disciplines is scarce. Therefore, we examined the associations of six different types of sport/exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk in a large pooled Scottish and English population-based cohort. Methods Cox proportional hazards regression was used to investigate the associations between each exposure and all-cause and CVD mortality with adjustment for potential confounders in 80 306 individuals (54% women; mean±SD age: 52±14 years). Results Significant reductions in all-cause mortality were observed for participation in cycling (HR=0.85, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.95), swimming (HR=0.72, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.80), racquet sports (HR=0.53, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.69) and aerobics (HR=0.73, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.85). No significant associations were found for participation in football and running. A significant reduction in CVD mortality was observed for participation in swimming (HR=0.59, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.75), racquet sports (HR=0.44, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.83) and aerobics (HR=0.64, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.92), but there were no significant associations for cycling, running and football. Variable dose-response patterns between the exposure and the outcomes were found across the sport disciplines. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that participation in specific sports may have significant benefits for public health. Future research should aim to further strengthen the sport-specific epidemiological evidence base and understanding of how to promote greater sports participation. BACKGROUND

More research is needed to determine whether walkability is an appropriate measure for predicting weight-related measures and overall active transportation. As most of the consistent correlates, gross population density, intersection density and the walkability indexes have the potential to be used in planning and monitoring.

BackgroundA questionnaire to assess physical activity related environmental factors in the European population (a 49-item and an 11-item version) was created as part of the framework of the EU-funded project "Instruments for Assessing Levels of PHysical Activity and fitness (ALPHA)". This paper reports on the development and assessment of the questionnaire's test-retest stability, predictive validity, and applicability to European adults.MethodsThe first pilot test was conducted in Belgium, France and the UK. In total 190 adults completed both forms of the ALPHA questionnaire twice with a one-week interval. Physical activity was concurrently measured (i) by administration of the long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) by interview and (ii) by accelerometry (Actigraph™ device). After adaptations, the second field test took place in Belgium, the UK and Austria; 166 adults completed the adapted questionnaire at two time points, with minimum one-week interval. In both field studies intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and proportion of agreement were computed to assess the stability of the two test scores. Predictive validity was examined in the first field test by correlating the results of the questionnaires with physical activity data from accelerometry and long IPAQ-last 7 days.ResultsThe reliability scores of the ALPHA questionnaire were moderate-to good in the first field testing (ICC range 0.66 - 0.86) and good in the second field testing (ICC range 0.71 - 0.87). The proportion of agreement for the ALPHA short increased significantly from the first (range 50 - 83%) to the second field testing (range 85 - 95%). Environmental scales from both versions of the ALPHA questionnaire were significantly associated with self-reported minutes of transport-related walking, and objectively measured low intensity physical activity levels, particularly in women. Both versions were easily administered with an average completion time of six minutes for the 49-item version and less than two minutes for the short version.ConclusionThe ALPHA questionnaire is an instrument to measure environmental perceptions in relation to physical activity. It appears to have good reliability and predictive validity. The questionnaire is now available to other researchers to investigate its usefulness and applicability across Europe.

Objective:To examine the association between environmental, social, and personal factors and cycling for transportation among university students.Methods:Five hundred and thirty-eight university students participated in the questionnaire study. Multi-nominal regression analysis was applied to identify associations between independent variables and cycling behavior.Results:Forty-one percent of the students were regular cyclists and 15% irregular cyclists. Regular cycling was negatively associated with the perception of traffic safety and positively associated with high safety from bicycle theft, many friends cycling to the university, high emotional satisfaction, little physiological effort, and high mobility. Irregular cycling was positively related with environmental attractiveness and little physiological effort.Conclusions:Improving bicycle parking security and promoting peer support for and positive psychological experiences and convenient mobility of cycling may increase this transport mode among university students.