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Prediction of human active mobility in rural areas: development and validity tests of three different approaches

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 30, pages 1023–1031 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Background/aim

Active mobility may play a relevant role in the assessment of environmental exposures (e.g. traffic-related air pollution, livestock emissions), but data about actual mobility patterns are work intensive to collect, especially in large study populations, therefore estimation methods for active mobility may be relevant for exposure assessment in different types of studies. We previously collected mobility patterns in a group of 941 participants in a rural setting in the Netherlands, using week-long GPS tracking. We had information regarding personal characteristics, self-reported data regarding weekly mobility patterns and spatial characteristics. The goal of this study was to develop versatile estimates of active mobility, test their accuracy using GPS measurements and explore the implications for exposure assessment studies.

Methods

We estimated hours/week spent on active mobility based on personal characteristics (e.g. age, sex, pre-existing conditions), self-reported data (e.g. hours spent commuting per bike) or spatial predictors such as home and work address. Estimated hours/week spent on active mobility were compared with GPS measured hours/week, using linear regression and kappa statistics.

Results

Estimated and measured hours/week spent on active mobility had low correspondence, even the best predicting estimation method based on self-reported data, resulted in a R2 of 0.09 and Cohen’s kappa of 0.07. A visual check indicated that, although predicted routes to work appeared to match GPS measured tracks, only a small proportion of active mobility was captured in this way, thus resulting in a low validity of overall predicted active mobility.

Conclusions

We were unable to develop a method that could accurately estimate active mobility, the best performing method was based on detailed self-reported information but still resulted in low correspondence. For future studies aiming to evaluate the contribution of home-work traffic to exposure, applying spatial predictors may be appropriate. Measurements still represent the best possible tool to evaluate mobility patterns.

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Acknowledgements

We like to thank all the participants, Lützen Portengen and Myrna de Rooij for statistical input and Daisy de Vries for textual input. The VGO GPS Study is funded by UMC Utrecht, publications fees for this article were available from IRAS. The Livestock Farming and Neighbouring Residents’ Health (VGO) study was funded by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, and supported by a grant from the Lung Foundation Netherlands (Grant number: 3.2.11.022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Gijs Klous, Mirjam E. E. Kretzschmar & Roel A. Coutinho

  2. Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Division Environmental Epidemiology and Veterinary Public Health, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Gijs Klous, Dick J. J. Heederik & Anke Huss

  3. National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Mirjam E. E. Kretzschmar

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Correspondence to Gijs Klous.

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Klous, G., Kretzschmar, M.E.E., Coutinho, R.A. et al. Prediction of human active mobility in rural areas: development and validity tests of three different approaches. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 30, 1023–1031 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-019-0194-6

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