Current work & interests

I am a Research Associate in the Population Health Interventions programme at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge. I work to better understand how people’s environment influences their health and how changes to the environment might result in improved health. My research interests include evaluating the effects of policy interventions and changes to the environment on physical activity and active travel. This involves using data from UK Biobank, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS-LS) and the Commuting and Health in Cambridge Study, in addition to other routinely collected data.

Background and experience

I have studied public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MSc) and Imperial College London (PhD). My doctorate investigated the physical activity-related health-effects of public transport use, using large quantitative datasets from the National Travel Survey and the ONS-LS.

Departmental page

Google Scholar Profile

Journal Articles

  1. Glasson L, Panter J, Ogilvie D, Patterson R. The physical activity implications of retirement across occupational activity groups. Preventive Medicine. 2023 Aug 1;173:107570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107570
  2. Patterson R, Ogilvie D, Laverty AA, Panter J. Equity impacts of cycling investment in England: A natural experimental study using longitudinally linked individual-level Census data. SSM - Population Health. 2023 Sep;23:101438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101438
  3. Xiao C, Sluijs E van, Ogilvie D, Patterson R, Panter J. Shifting towards healthier transport: carrots or sticks? Systematic review and meta-analysis of population-level interventions. The Lancet Planetary Health. 2022 Nov 1;6(11):e858–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101438
  4. Patterson R, Ogilvie D, Panter J. Travel Levels Before and After COVID-19 Control Measures in Cambridge, UK. Findings. Published online June 21, 2021. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.24854>
  5. Patterson R, Ogilvie D, Panter J. The social and physical workplace environment and commute mode: A natural experimental study. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2020;20:101260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2020.101260
  6. Patterson R, Panter J, Vamos EP, Cummins S, Millett C, Laverty AA. Associations between commute mode and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality, and cancer incidence, using linked Census data over 25 years in England and Wales: a cohort study. The Lancet Planetary Health. 2020;4(5):e186-e194. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30079-6
  7. Patterson R, Webb E, Millett C, Laverty AA. Physical activity accrued as part of public transport use in England. Journal of Public Health. 2019;41(2):222-230. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy099
  8. Patterson R, Webb E, Hone T, Millett C, Laverty AA. Associations of Public Transportation Use with Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2019;188(4):785-795. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwz012
  9. Patterson R, Webb E, Mindell JS, Millett C, Laverty AA. Ethnic group differences in impacts of free bus passes in England: A national study. Journal of Transport and Health. 2018;11:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2018.09.005
  10. Patterson R, McNamara E, Tainio M, et al. Sedentary behaviour and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality, and incident type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and dose response meta-analysis. European Journal of Epidemiology. 2018;33(9):811-829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0380-1

Reports

  1. Patterson R. The health impacts of public transport use. Published online February 2019. https://doi.org/10.25560/82378
  2. Laverty AA, Webb E, Patterson R, Mindell JS, Millett C. Health benefits of providing free bus travel to older people in England – end of project report. (2018)

Software

midlines: an R package to derive the midlines of an sf polygon v.0.0.1. Patterson R. https://github.com/RichardPatterson/midlines

Other

Patterson R, Laverty A A. Cycling and walking to work lowers risk of cancer, heart disease and death – new research. May 2020. https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-to-work-lowers-risk-of-cancer-heart-disease-and-death-new-research-139075

Population Health Interventions Programme at the MRC Epidemiology Unit. Things I wish I’d known when I started my PhD… (part 1) https://fuseopenscienceblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/things-i-wish-id-known-when-i-started.html