Bicycling to school is associated with improvements in physical fitness over a 6-year follow-up period in Swedish children.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether modes of commuting to school at baseline and changes in commuting were related to 6-year changes in cardiorespiratory fitness in youth.


METHODS
A total of 262 (142 girls) Swedish children (9 years at entry) were measured at baseline (1998/9) and follow-up (2004/5). Mode of commuting to school was assessed by questionnaire and fitness by a maximal bicycle test.


RESULTS
At baseline, 34% of children used passive modes of commuting (e.g., car, motorcycle, bus, train), 54% walked, and 12% bicycled to school. Six years later the percentage of bicyclists increased 19% and the percentage of walkers decreased 19%. On average, children who bicycled to school increased their fitness 13% (p=0.03) more than those who used passive modes and 20% (p=0.002) more than those who walked. Children who used passive modes or walked at baseline and bicycled to school at 6 years later increased their fitness 14% (p=0.001) more than those who remained using passive modes or walking at follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Implementing initiatives that encourage bicycling to school may be a useful strategy to increase cardiorespiratory fitness of children.
Department of Physical Education and Sport, School of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. pchillon@ugr.es
Palma
P
Chillón
Francisco B
FB
Ortega
Jonatan R
JR
Ruiz
Kelly R
KR
Evenson
Idoia
I
Labayen
Vicente
V
Martínez-Vizcaino
Anita
A
Hurtig-Wennlöf
Toomas
T
Veidebaum
Michael
M
Sjöström
D000293:Adolescent; D001642:Bicycling / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D014186:Transportation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016138:Walking / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data