title: A methodology to leverage cross-sectional accelerometry to capture weather's influence in active living research.
abstract: While active living interventions focus on modifying urban design and built environment, weather variation, a phenomenon that perennially interacts with these environmental factors, is consistently underexplored. This study's objective is to develop a methodology to link weather data with existing cross-sectional accelerometry data in capturing weather variation.
  
  
  
  Saskatoon's neighbourhoods were classified into grid-pattern, fractured grid-pattern and curvilinear neighbourhoods. Thereafter, 137 Actical accelerometers were used to derive moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) data from 455 children in 25 sequential one-week cycles between April and June, 2010. This sequential deployment was necessary to overcome the difference in the ratio between the sample size and the number of accelerometers. A data linkage methodology was developed, where each accelerometry cycle was matched with localized (Saskatoon-specific) weather patterns derived from Environment Canada. Statistical analyses were conducted to depict the influence of urban design on MVPA and SB after factoring in localized weather patterns.
  
  
  
  Integration of cross-sectional accelerometry with localized weather patterns allowed the capture of weather variation during a single seasonal transition. Overall, during the transition from spring to summer in Saskatoon, MVPA increased and SB decreased during warmer days. After factoring in localized weather, a recurring observation was that children residing in fractured grid-pattern neighbourhoods accumulated significantly lower MVPA and higher SB.
  
  
  
  The proposed methodology could be utilized to link globally available cross-sectional accelerometry data with place-specific weather data to understand how built and social environmental factors interact with varying weather patterns in influencing active living.
authors.affiliation: Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina, 110-2 Research Drive, Innovation Place, Regina, SK, S4S 7H1, Canada. tarun.katapally@usask.ca.|Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada. tarun.katapally@usask.ca.
authors.forename: Tarun R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Katapally
authors.affiliation: Environmental Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rainham
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.|Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
authors.forename: Nazeem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Muhajarine
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry; D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies / Q000379:methods*; D004779:Environment Design / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012107:Research Design; D012621:Seasons; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D014505:Urban Population; D014887:Weather