Municipal transportation policy as a population health intervention: estimating the impact of the City of Ottawa Transportation Master Plan on diabetes incidence

Arnason, Trevor; Tanuseputro, Peter; Tuna, Meltem; Dujovny, Manuel

doi:10.17269/s41997-018-0168-9

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This study's findings showing diabetes reductions from increases in walking from active travel are comparable to those of other studies that have modeled the effects of increases in walking through transportation policy initiatives. A modeling study examining the effect of a municipal transportation policy to increase active transportation in Ottawa, Ontario found that 1620 incident cases of diabetes could be prevented in 10 years by increases in public transit use [14] Another modeling study examining the impacts of high walking and cycling transport scenarios in the UK urban environment found a reduction of 7.2% in the diabetes burden by 2030 [13].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The built environment has also been linked to diabetes risk, for example, people living in highly walkable neighbourhoods have a lower incidence of diabetes than their counterparts living in low walkability neighbourhoods [12]. Additionally, modeling studies examining the effects of active transportation policies that encourage walking have demonstrated health benefits in terms of reductions in diabetes incidence [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Forecasting Diabetes Cases Prevented and Cost Savings Associated with Population Increases of Walking in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Canada

Kornas

Rosella

Fazli

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Promoting adequate levels of physical activity in the population is important for diabetes prevention. However, the scale needed to achieve tangible population benefits is unclear. We aimed to estimate the public health impact of increases in walking as a means of diabetes prevention and health care cost savings attributable to diabetes. We applied the validated Diabetes Population Risk Tool (DPoRT) to the 2015/16 Canadian Community Health Survey for adults aged 18–64, living in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, Ontario, Canada. DPoRT was used to generate three population-level scenarios involving increases in walking among individuals with low physical activity levels, low daily step counts and high dependency on non-active forms of travel, compared to a baseline scenario (no change in walking rates). We estimated number of diabetes cases prevented and health care costs saved in each scenario compared with the baseline. Each of the three scenarios predicted a considerable reduction in diabetes and related health care cost savings. In order of impact, the largest population benefits were predicted from targeting populations with low physical activity levels, low daily step counts, and non active transport use. Population increases of walking by 25 min each week was predicted to prevent up to 10.4 thousand diabetes cases and generate CAD 74.4 million in health care cost savings in 10 years. Diabetes reductions and cost savings were projected to be higher if increases of 150 min of walking per week could be achieved at the population-level (up to 54.3 thousand diabetes cases prevented and CAD 386.9 million in health care cost savings). Policy, programming, and community designs that achieve modest increases in population walking could translate to meaningful reductions in the diabetes burden and cost savings to the health care system.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forecasting Diabetes Cases Prevented and Cost Savings Associated with Population Increases of Walking in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Canada

Kornas

Rosella

Fazli

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Urban planning that curbs the car culture and provides a full range of services and retail, including healthy fresh produce, social spaces and green spaces within walking distance of people’s residence, along with well-developed active transportation and public transit systems is essential to the avoidance of chronic diseases (as well as injuries) and the promotion of mental health, healthy child development and quality of life (OPPI 2016 ; Tam 2017 ; BCCDC 2018 ). Official community plans have been reviewed for active living-related components and the impact of municipal transportation master plans on chronic disease incidence has been estimated (Arnason et al 2019 ). Both public health and planning communities (private and not-for-profit, as well as municipal) have supported community planners, fostering improved health through walkable, cycleable, complete and compact community design (Tam 2017 ) and incorporating green space into community planning and investments (EcoHealth Ontario 2017 ).…”

Section: Public Health and Municipal Planning Togethermentioning

confidence: 99%

Public health for the hunter-gatherer in us all

Gardner

Cole

Ryan

2020

Can J Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In evolutionary terms, the transformations which humans have engendered in social, ecological and built environments are increasingly out of step with their biological makeup. We briefly review the evidence on health-relevant practices and status of our Paleolithic ancestors and contrast these with current food, transportation, work and governance systems with their associated impacts on human health. As public health and planning practitioners engaged in the EcoHealth Ontario Collaborative, we argue for recognition of our hunter-gatherer nature to promote joint efforts in building sustainable and equitable community infrastructures, both built and green. Although such efforts are underway at multiple jurisdictional levels across Canada, the pace is frustratingly slow for the burden of endemic chronic diseases and global environmental change which humans face. Reminding reluctant stakeholders of the hunter-gatherers in us all could bring about deeper reflection on the urgent work in redirecting community planning.

show abstract

“…In a second example, Arnason et al (2019) modelled the effects of transportation policy aimed at increasing active transport on the risk of diabetes, where diabetes risk was estimated from and validated using the CCHS data set. This allowed the researchers to understand the public health impact of specified active transport targets in terms of the number of diabetes cases avoided amongst commuters, for which the greatest impact was seen for adults over 45 years of age.…”

Section: Canadian Data and The Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fit to the task: using Canadian data for evidence-informed public health

Eykelbosh

2019

Environ. Health Rev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The challenge of data gaps in public health Evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) is the practice of integrating scientific research evidence with the many other competing social and political considerations that inform policy (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, 2012). However, decision-makers and those who participate in policy development are often confounded in this effort by data that are patchy, weak, or missing altogether. We must often reach for the "next best thing, " typically data or studies from other demographically "comparable" nations, whom we assume to live, eat, work, and recreate in a manner closely similar to our Canadian population, under similar environmental conditions. This is problematic given that, within our own Canadian population, there is a wide disparity in factors influencing health, such as access to healthy foods, clean drinking water, and the presence of environmental contaminants. Also at issue is how we use data. Although it may be useful to know that a given intervention had a certain effect in some other population (i.e., a static study), having access to detailed health data collected repeatedly over time (i.e., surveillance data) allows us to not only make comparisons amongst populations and track changes in health status, but also predict the health impacts of specific interventions and evaluate them after implementation. The aim of this short commentary is to highlight two large, cross-sectional, representative Canadian data sets that have great potential to inform public health policy; one such example is the use of research around the built environment.

show abstract

Municipal transportation policy as a population health intervention: estimating the impact of the City of Ottawa Transportation Master Plan on diabetes incidence

Cited by 10 publications

References 21 publications

Forecasting Diabetes Cases Prevented and Cost Savings Associated with Population Increases of Walking in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Canada

Forecasting Diabetes Cases Prevented and Cost Savings Associated with Population Increases of Walking in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, Canada

Public health for the hunter-gatherer in us all

Fit to the task: using Canadian data for evidence-informed public health

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About