Effects of active commuting on health-related quality of life and sickness-related absence

Abstract

Increased physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits. This study investigated the effect of active commuting (walking and cycling to work) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and absence days from work due to sickness in healthy working adults. In total, 73 participants (age: 46 ± 9 years), all working at a tertiary university hospital in Salzburg, Austria, were randomized into an intervention group (IG, n = 51) and a control group (CG, n = 22). The IG was asked to commute actively for twelve months, whereas the CG did not have to change their usual commuting behavior. IG was divided into two subgroups: IG-C (cycling, n = 26) was asked to commute by bicycle and IG-PT (public transport, n = 25) partially using public transportation and walked the remaining distance to work. Significant positive changes in IG were observed in four subcomponents of the SF-36 (physical functioning (95 [10] to 100 [8.8], P =.023), mental health (82 [15] to 86 [15], P =.036), vitality (65 [20] to 70 [14], P =.005), and general health (70 [19] to 80 [24], P =.004)) as well as the physical component summary score (56.5 [9] to 59.2 [6.3], P =.002). IG-C showed greater and more statistically significant changes regarding HRQoL compared to IG-PT. Associations between active commuting and sick-leave days were only observed in IG-PT (7.5 [14.8] to 4.0 [11.3] days, P =.038). In conclusion, active commuting improves various components of HRQoL and might therefore be a possible strategy to increase quality of life in the workforce.