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. Patterson, R., de Oliveira, C., Schneider, I. J. C., Mindell, J. S., Panter, J., & Laverty, A. A. (2024). Public Transport Use and Mortality among Older Adults in England: A Cohort Study. Preventive Medicine, 186, 108064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2024.108064

  2. Garrott, K., Ogilvie, D., Panter, J., Petticrew, M., Sowden, A., Jones, C. P., … Adams, J. (2024). Development and Application of the Demands for Population Health Interventions (Depth) Framework for Categorising the Agentic Demands of Population Health Interventions. BMC Global and Public Health, 2(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-024-00043-8

  3. Xiao, C. S., Patterson, R., Ogilvie, D., van Sluijs, E. M. F., Sharp, S. J., & Panter, J. (2023). Design Effects of Cycle Infrastructure Changes: An Exploratory Analysis of Cycle Levels. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 22, 100949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2023.100949

  4. Patterson, R., Ogilvie, D., Laverty, A. A., & Panter, J. (2023). Equity Impacts of Cycling Investment in England: A Natural Experimental Study Using Longitudinally Linked Individual-Level Census Data. SSM - Population Health, 23, 101438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101438

  5. Glasson, L., Panter, J., Ogilvie, D., & Patterson, R. (2023). The Physical Activity Implications of Retirement across Occupational Activity Groups. Preventive Medicine, 173, 107570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107570

  6. Xiao, C., van Sluijs, E., Ogilvie, D., Patterson, R., & Panter, J. (2022). Shifting towards Healthier Transport: Carrots or Sticks? Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Population-Level Interventions. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(11), e858–e869. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00220-0

  7. Patterson, R., Ogilvie, D., & Panter, J. (2021). Travel Levels Before and After COVID-19 Control Measures in Cambridge, UK. Findings. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.24854

  8. Patterson, R., Ogilvie, D., & Panter, J. (2020). The Social and Physical Workplace Environment and Commute Mode: A Natural Experimental Study. Preventive Medicine Reports, 20, 101260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2020.101260

  9. Patterson, R., Panter, J., Vamos, E. P., Cummins, S., Millett, C., & Laverty, A. A. (2020). 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, 4(5), e186–e194. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30079-6

  10. Patterson, R., Webb, E., Millett, C., & Laverty, A. A. (2019). Physical Activity Accrued as Part of Public Transport Use in England. Journal of Public Health, 41(2), 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy099

  11. Patterson, R., Webb, E., Hone, T., Millett, C., & Laverty, A. A. (2019). Associations of Public Transportation Use with Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology, 188(4), 785–795. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwz012

  12. Patterson, R., McNamara, E., Tainio, M., de Sá, T. H., Smith, A. D., Sharp, S. J., … Wijndaele, K. (2018). 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, 33(9), 811–829. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0380-1

  13. Patterson, R., Webb, E., Mindell, J. S., Millett, C., & Laverty, A. A. (2018). Ethnic Group Differences in Impacts of Free Bus Passes in England: A National Study. Journal of Transport and Health, 11, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2018.09.005

Theses

  1. Patterson, R. A. (2019). The Health Impacts of Public Transport Use (PhD Thesis, Imperial College London). Imperial College London. https://doi.org/10.25560/82378

Reports

  1. Laverty, A., Webb, E., Patterson, R., Mindell, J., & Millett, C. (2018). Health Benefits of Providing Free Bus Travel to Older People in England - End of Project Report (pp. 1–102).

Software

  1. Patterson, R. (2023). Midlines: An R Package to Derive the Midlines of an Sf Polygon [Software].

Other

  1. Population Health Interventions Programme, MRC Epidemiology Unit. (2021). Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started My PhD… (Part 1). Fuse open science blog. Retrieved from https://fuseopenscienceblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/things-i-wish-id-known-when-i-started.html

  2. Patterson, R., & Laverty, A. (2020). Cycling and Walking to Work Lowers Risk of Cancer, Heart Disease and Death – New Research. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/cycling-and-walking-to-work-lowers-risk-of-cancer-heart-disease-and-death-new-research-139075