Effects of e-biking on older adults' biking and walking frequencies, health, functionality and life space area: A prospective observational study

The current prospective observational study among Flemish and Dutch older adults aimed to examine the effects of starting to e-bike on total and conventional biking frequencies, walking for transport, self-rated health, functionality and life space area. We observed a large increase in total biking frequency among those who started e-biking, while frequencies decreased in those who did e-bike at both time points, did not e-bike at both time points and stopped e-biking. Conventional biking frequencies decreased in all groups. No effects were observed on walking for transport, self-rated health and life space area. Functionality tended to decrease in all groups, except among those who stopped e-biking for whom no change in functionality was observed. In conclusion, e-bikes offer older adults a possibility to increase their biking levels and potentially extend their life on a bike. Future studies should use objective measures of biking volume and intensity, health and life space area and confirm whether current findings are generalizable to other regions.