Abstract

Introduction: Active travel surveillance in Latin American is scarce. Surveillance of transport cycling in Chile is critical to document, to serve as a baseline from which to measure future planned strategies to increase transport cycling in Chile. This study aimed to document the prevalence of transport cycling in urban-dwelling Chilean adults and to examine factors associated with transport cycling in this population. Method: Data were collected from two cross-sectional National Environmental Surveys. The surveys were administered through a computerassisted telephone interview system to representative samples of adult residents of the 15 regional capital cities in 2014 (n = 5067) and 2015 (n = 5664). Multivariable multi-level logistic regression modeling was used to assess associations between socio-demographic and environmental factors and bicycling as the main transport mode (yes, no). Results: Cycling for transport was reported by 6.7% of participants in 2014 and 6.6% of participants in 2015. The highest prevalence estimates were found in males (2014: 10%; 2015: 9%), participants aged 18-24 years (both surveys: 12%), participants of low socioeconomic status (both years: 7%), and participants living in cities with warm summers/mild winters (2014: 9%; 2015: 8%. Factors associated with a reduced likelihood of transport cycling were female gender, older age, high socioeconomic status, and living in a city with cool summer temperatures (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Transport cycling is more prevalent in Chile than in some other Latin American countries and high-income countries (e.g. US, Australia) but low compared to Northern European countries. Correlates of cycling in Chile are similar to those in other low-cycling countries.