Author(s): SASAYAMA, K., Institution: MIE UNIVERSITY, Country: JAPAN, Abstract-ID: 359

INTRODUCTION:
Walking to and from school rates are low in many countries (Aubert et al., 2022). Therefore, the contribution of active transport to the overall population’s MVPA is relatively low (Martin et al., 2016). In addition, Larouche’s review (Larouche et al., 2014) on the relationship between active transport and physical activity highlighted a limited number of longitudinal studies. This study examines the prospectively relationship between walking to and from school and physical activity in a sample with a high rate of Japanese children who walked to and from school.
METHODS:
A total of 76 participants (57.9 % girls) completed baseline and follow-up assessments. Their mean age was 9.6 ± 1.0 years at baseline and 10.6 ± 1.0 years at follow-up. The participants’ mode of school commute was measured by a questionnaire. Step counts, sedentary time, light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were assessed using an accelerometer (ActiGraph, LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA). Comparisons of physical activity variables at baseline and follow-up were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The contribution of walking to and from school to the entire day was calculated. The tracking of physical activity was analyzed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient.
RESULTS:
Overall physical activity levels decreased at follow-up compared to baseline. However, the contribution of walking to and from school to overall physical activity significantly increased at follow-up compared to baseline, especially in step counts and MVPA. Walking to and from school contributed to the participants’ overall physical activity in MVPA were 39.6 ± 15.3% and 49.1 ± 13.8% for all participants at baseline and follow-up, respectively. The tracking correlation coefficients were high for the steps counts (r = 0.799–0.889, p < 0.05) and MVPA (r = 0.713–0.745, p < 0.05) in before school and after school.
CONCLUSION:
Walking to and from school significantly contributed to overall daily physical activity in primary school students. Physical activity during the school commute in short-term exhibited a low-to-strong association. In conclusions, these findings emphasize the importance of promoting physical activity interventions and implementing school policies that encourage walking to and from school.
References: 1. Aubert, S, et al., Global Matrix 4.0 physical activity report card grades for children and adolescents: results and analyses from 57 countries. Journal of physical activity and health, 2022. 19: p700-728.
2. Martin, A, et al., Contribution of walking to school to individual and population moderate-vigorous intensity physical activity: systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatric exercise science, 2016. 28: p353-363.