Do physical activity and trip characteristics differ when commuting to and from school?: The PACO study

Abstract

Purpose: To determine whether trip characteristics (i.e., length, duration, and speed) and physical activity (PA) (i. e., light PA [LPA], moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA], and PA energy expenditure [PAEE]) differ by trip direction (i.e., home-school and school-home trips), and to examine differences in trips characteristics and PA levels between modes of commuting (walking, multimodal, and motorized-vehicle). Methods: 181 adolescents wore a belt on their hip with an accelerometer and a GPS. The HABITUS and PALMSplusR softwares were used to combine accelerometer and GPS data and identify trip characteristics and PA levels during home-school and school-home trips. Mixed model analysis was used to examine the differences in trip characteristics and PA levels between the trip directions and across modes of commuting. Results: The percentage of school-home walking trips was higher (54.4% vs 46.9%) and had longer duration than the home-school walking trips (p < 0.01). In contrast, multimodal and vehicle trips had a longer duration during the home-school direction than the school-home direction (p < 0.01). Regarding PA levels, the school-home direction presented higher LPA during walking trips (p < 0.01), but lower MVPA (p < 0.01), compared to the home-school direction. Walking trips presented higher MVPA and PAEE than multimodal and motorized-vehicle in both directions, but smaller LPA minutes in home-school direction than multimodal and motorized-vehicle (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The percentage of walking trips, the characteristics of the trips, and PA levels during school-home direction differed from home-school direction. In addition, walking trips were associated with higher MVPA levels and PAEE in both directions compare to multimodal or motorized-vehicle.