title: Relationship between active school transport and body mass index in grades 4-to-6 children.
abstract: The current investigation assessed the impact of active school transportation (AST) on average daily step counts, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference in 315 children in Grades 4-6 who participated to Cycle 2 of the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (CAPL) pilot testing. T-tests revealed a significant association between AST and lower BMI values (18.7 ± 3.3 vs. 19.9 ± 3.8 kg/m(2)). The active commuters accumulated an average of 662 more steps per day, and their waist circumference was lower by an average of 3.1 cm, but these differences were not statistically significant. ANCOVA analyses controlling for age and step counts, found trends toward lower BMI and waist circumference values among the active commuters. These results suggest that AST may be a valid strategy to prevent childhood obesity; further research is needed to determine more precisely the impact of AST on body composition, and the direction of the relationship.
authors: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors: Richard
authors: R
authors: Larouche
authors: Meghann
authors: M
authors: Lloyd
authors: Emily
authors: E
authors: Knight
authors: Mark S
authors: MS
authors: Tremblay
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000502:physiology; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*