Influência do ambiente urbano na escolha do transporte ativo e sua relação com sedentarismo

Abstract

Large urban centers in Brazil have been experiencing difficulties in managing mobility, with increasing numbers of road congestion and environmental pollution. At the same time, rates of physical inactivity and chronic diseases have been increasing and people's health has been getting worse. However, active mobility can be the way to improve the conditions of displacement in cities, in their socioeconomic, environmental and public health dimensions. Given this, the main purpose of this dissertation was to study the influence of the urban environment in the choice of active transport as a form of displacement and its relationship with people's sedentary lifestyle. The data were collected from a survey which target population consisted of residents of the city of Belo Horizonte over the age of 18, and obtained 1.726 responses. A descriptive analysis was performed to characterize the research sample, with comparisons between genders. Statistical analyzes were also carried out, highlighting: i) the ANOVA test, to verify if there is a significant difference between the sedentary behavior groups and the active ones for the Body Mass Index (BMI) variable; ii) the chi-square test for comparison between groups that travel by the main modes of transport, checking if any characteristics of the person influence the mode used; iii) Successive Interval Methods, to check the factors of the urban environment that influence the exchange of cars for active transport, considering the use of bicycles and walks; and iv) Logistic Regression Models (categorical and binary), in order to relate the profile (general and health) of people who use different modes of transport. In general, research has shown that women have a different perception of active transport than men, for example in relation to issues related to safety and harassment. For physically active people, the rugged terrain was not an obstacle to adherence to active transport. In addition, they also considered themselves to be less vulnerable to harassment. In binary logistic regression, in relation to the use of the car versus active transport, the variables that made the model were BMI, income, distance traveled, time traveled and perception of the topography and, with these data, the model has an accuracy of 84%. In this sense, it is concluded that in cities where the population has a predominantly sedentary behavior, such as Belo Horizonte, promoting structural changes of/ in the city, which encourage active urban mobility, can be one of the ways to improve health indicators and reduce the prevalence of so-called chronic non-communicable diseases, in addition to contributing to the improvement of urban mobility.