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Active Transportation

Relationships between active school transport and adiposity indicators in school-age children from low-, middle- and high-income countries

International Journal of Obesity Supplements volume 5, pages S107–S114 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives:

Within the global context of the nutrition and physical activity transition it is important to determine the relationship between adiposity and active school transport (AST) across different environmental and socio-cultural settings. The present study assessed the association between adiposity (that is, body mass index z-score (BMIz), obesity, percentage body fat (PBF), waist circumference) and AST in 12 country sites, in the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE).

Methods:

The analytical sample included 6797 children aged 9–11 years. Adiposity indicators included, BMIz calculated using reference data from the World Health Organization, obesity (BMIz ⩾+2 s.d.), PBF measured using bioelectrical impedance and waist circumference. School travel mode was assessed by questionnaire and categorized as active travel versus motorized travel. Multilevel linear and non-linear models were used to estimate the magnitude of the associations between adiposity indicators and AST by country site and sex.

Results:

After adjusting for age, sex, parental education and motorized vehicle availability, children who reported AST were less likely to be obese (odds ratio=0.72, 95% confidence interval (0.60–0.87), P<0.001) and had a lower BMIz (−0.09, s.e.m.=0.04, P=0.013), PBF (least square means (LSM) 20.57 versus 21.23% difference −0.66, s.e.m.=0.22, P=0.002) and waist circumference (LSM 63.73 cm versus 64.63 cm difference −0.90, s.e.m.=0.26, P=0.001) compared with those who reported motorized travel. Overall, associations between obesity and AST did not differ by country (P=0.279) or by sex (P=0.571).

Conclusions:

AST was associated with lower measures of adiposity in this multinational sample of children. Such findings could inform global efforts to prevent obesity among school-age children.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ISCOLE External Advisory Board and the ISCOLE participants and their families who made this study possible. A membership list of the ISCOLE Research Group and External Advisory Board is included in Katzmarzyk et al. (this issue). ISCOLE was funded by The Coca-Cola Company. MF has received a research grant from Fazer Finland. RK has received a research grant from Abbott Nutrition Research and Development. PL was funded by Colciencias.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

    O L Sarmiento, P Lemoine & S A Gonzalez

  2. Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, CeiBA Complex Systems Research Center, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

    P Lemoine

  3. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    S T Broyles, K D Denstel, T V Barreira, G Hu, C Tudor-Locke, T S Church & P T Katzmarzyk

  4. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    R Larouche, J-P Chaput & M S Tremblay

  5. Department of Recreation Management and Exercise Science, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    V Onywera

  6. Department of Exercise Science, University of Syracuse, Syracuse, NY, USA

    T V Barreira

  7. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    M Fogelholm

  8. St John’s Research Institute, Bangalore, India

    R Kuriyan & A Kurpad

  9. Department of Human Biology, Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    E V Lambert

  10. Alliance for Research In Exercise Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    C Maher & T Olds

  11. CIFI2D, Faculdade de Desporto, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    J Maia

  12. Centro de Estudos do Laboratório de Aptidão Física de São Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    V Matsudo

  13. Department of Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    M Standage

  14. Department of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    C Tudor-Locke

  15. Tianjin Women’s and Children’s Health Center, Tianjin, China

    P Zhao

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  1. O L Sarmiento
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  23. T S Church
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Correspondence to O L Sarmiento.

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Competing interests

MF has received a research grant from Fazer Finland and has received an honorarium for speaking for Merck. AK has been a member of the Advisory Boards of Dupont and McCain Foods. RK has received a research grant from Abbott Nutrition Research and Development. VM is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Actigraph and has received an honorarium for speaking for the Coca-Cola Company. TO has received an honorarium for speaking for the Coca-Cola Company. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Sarmiento, O., Lemoine, P., Gonzalez, S. et al. Relationships between active school transport and adiposity indicators in school-age children from low-, middle- and high-income countries. Int J Obes Supp 5 (Suppl 2), S107–S114 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijosup.2015.27

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