title: Trend in active transportation to school among Swiss school children and its associated factors: three cross-sectional surveys 1994, 2000 and 2005.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Giving the rising trend in childhood obesity in many countries including Switzerland, strategies to increase physical activity such as promoting active school travel are important. Yet, little is known about time trends of active commuting in Swiss schoolchildren and factors associated with changes in walking and biking to school.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 1994 and 2005, information about mobility behaviour of children aged 6-14 years was collected within three Swiss population based national travel behaviour surveys. Mode of transport to school was reported for 4244 children. Weighted multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess active school travel time trends and their influencing factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than 70% of Swiss children walked or biked to school. Nevertheless, the proportion of children biking to school decreased (p = 0.05, linear trend), predominately in urban areas, and motorized transportation increased since 1994 (p = 0.02). Distance to school did not change significantly over time but availability of bikes decreased (p < 0.001) and number of cars per household increased (p < 0.001). The association between survey year and bike use was significantly modified by living in an urban area (OR (95%CI): 1.0, 0.63 (0.44-0.90), 0.71 (0.49-1.03), respectively for 1994, 2000 and 2005) and by distance to school (OR (95%CI): 1.0, 0.65 (0.40-1.05), 0.50 (0.23-0.79) for the same years and for children who lived more than a mile away from school).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Programs to encourage safe biking and to limit car use as mode of transport to school are warranted to stop this trend.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Socinstrasse 57, 4002 Basel, Switzerland. leticia.grize@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grize
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bringolf-Isler
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Braun-Fahrländer
references.citation: Sports Med. 2001;31(5):309-13
references.pmid: 11347681
references.citation: Am J Prev Med. 2007 Jun;32(6):509-16
references.pmid: 17533067
references.citation: Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Oct;38(10):1724-31
references.pmid: 17019293
references.citation: Prev Med. 2008 Jan;46(1):67-73
references.pmid: 17662380
references.citation: Am J Prev Med. 2006 Jan;30(1):45-51
references.pmid: 16414423
references.citation: Aust N Z J Public Health. 2005 Aug;29(4):337-42
references.pmid: 16222931
references.citation: Prev Med. 2009 Jun;48(6):507-12
references.pmid: 19272403
references.citation: Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2008 Jun 23;5:34
references.pmid: 18573196
references.citation: Prev Med. 2005 Jun;40(6):658-67
references.pmid: 15850862
references.citation: Prev Med. 2008 Jan;46(1):60-2
references.pmid: 17628653
references.citation: Eur J Clin Nutr. 2000 Jul;54(7):568-72
references.pmid: 10918467
references.citation: Prev Med. 2009 Jun;48(6):519-24
references.pmid: 19272404
references.citation: Prev Chronic Dis. 2005 Oct;2(4):A14
references.pmid: 16164818