School playground facilities as a determinant of children's daily activity: a cross-sectional study of Danish primary school children.
BACKGROUND
This study investigates the influence of school playground facilities on children's daily physical activity.


METHODS
Participants were 594 school children measured at preschool (age 6 to 7 years) and 3 years later in third grade (518 children age 9 to 10 years) from 18 schools in 2 suburban municipalities in Denmark. Physical activity data were obtained using accelerometers. These were related to the number of permanent play facilities in school grounds and the school playground area (m2).


RESULTS
The number of play facilities in the school grounds was positively associated with all measures of children's activity. In preschool every 10 additional play facilities the children had access to was associated with an increase in the average accelerometer counts of 14% (r = .273, P < .001) in school time and 6.9% (r = .195, P < .001) overall. For the children in third grade, access to 10 additional play facilities was associated with an increase in school time activity level of 26% (r = .364, P < .001) and an increase in overall activity level of 9.4% (r = .211, P < .001). School playground area did not affect activity levels independently of the number of permanent play facilities.


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing the number of play facilities in primary school playgrounds may increase the level of children's daily physical activity.
Dept of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Glen
G
Nielsen
Anna
A
Bugge
Bianca
B
Hermansen
Jesper
J
Svensson
Lars Bo
LB
Andersen
D000054:Acceleration; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors