Passive commuting and dietary intake in fourth and fifth grade students

U.S. active school travel in 2017: Prevalence and correlates

Active transportation to school (ATS), denoting walking and biking, is crucial to promote physical activity for youth. This study uses data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) to report on the most recent and nationally representative school transportation patterns. Binary logit modeling determines significant factors associated with school travel mode choices. Spatial differences on school mode choices across the US are explored. In 2017 9.6% of the students of 5–17 years old usually walked and 1.1% biked to school. For students who usually walk to school, 77.5% of their school trips were less than one mile and, among usual bikers to school, 82.8% of trips were less than two miles. Student rates of walking to school decreased as the distance to school increased and biking rates peaked when distance to school was between 0.5 and 1 miles. When distance to school was <0.5 miles, walking was the most common mode for urban and rural regions. When the trip was shorter than or equal to one mile, factors such child's school grade, household vehicles per driver, and household income were associated with the decision to walk or bike to school. Other demographic characteristics like race and gender were not significantly related to ATS. While comparison across NHTS years should be viewed with caution due to changes in survey methodology, the decline of ATS rates indicate that more effective and higher reaching efforts for local, regional, and national interventions should be prioritized.

Food consumption and its association with leisure-time physical activity and active commuting in Brazilian workers

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

An in-depth understanding of the relationship between food consumption and physical activity is relevant since these behaviours could influence each other, while both have an effect on obesity and chronic diseases. In this context, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of various combinations of food consumption (fruits, vegetables, sweets and snacks) on the associations with PA domains (leisure and commute) among Brazilian industrial workers.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

This is part of a cross-sectional national survey developed in Brazil using data from the "Lifestyle and Leisure Habits of Industrial Workers" project. A total of 52,774 workers (response rate: 90.6%) responded to a validated questionnaire about the frequency of their consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets and snacks, their practice of LTPA and active commuting. The answers were analysed by multilevel regression, controlled by sociodemographic behaviour and the presence of hypertension, diabetes and overweight.

RESULTS

Workers with a simultaneously adequate consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets and snacks were 2.29 (1.74; 2.99 p-value < 0.001) more likely to perform LTPA. In the full model, there was no association among any of the combinations of food consumption and active commuting.

CONCLUSION

A better food consumption behaviour was reported among workers who practiced leisure physical activity when compared to those who did not.

Geographical variations and influential factors in prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases in South Korea

Geographical variations and influential factors of disease prevalence are crucial information enabling optimal allocation of limited medical resources and prioritization of appropriate treatments for each regional unit. The purpose of this study was to explore the geographical variations and influential factors of cardiometabolic disease prevalence with respect to 230 administrative districts in South Korea. Global Moran’s I was calculated to determine whether the standardized prevalences of cardiometabolic diseases (hypertension, stroke, and diabetes mellitus) were spatially clustered. The CART algorithm was then applied to generate decision tree models that could extract the diseases’ regional influential factors from among 101 demographic, economic, and public health data variables. Finally, the accuracies of the resulting model–hypertension (67.4%), stroke (62.2%), and diabetes mellitus (56.5%)–were assessed by ten-fold cross-validation. Marriage rate was the main determinant of geographic variation in hypertension and stroke prevalence, which has the possibility that married life could have positive effects in lowering disease risks. Additionally, stress-related variables were extracted as factors positively associated with hypertension and stroke. In the opposite way, the wealth status of a region was found to have an influence on the prevalences of stroke and diabetes mellitus. This study suggested a framework for provision of novel insights into the regional characteristics of diseases and the corresponding influential factors. The results of the study are anticipated to provide valuable information for public health practitioners’ cost-effective disease management and to facilitate primary intervention and mitigation efforts in response to regional disease outbreaks.

Using GPS and activity tracking to reveal the influence of adolescents' food environment exposure on junk food purchasing

OBJECTIVES

This study examines the influence of adolescents' exposure to unhealthy food outlets on junk food purchasing during trips between home and school, with particular attention to how exposure and purchasing differ according to child's biological sex, mode of transportation, and direction to or from school.

METHODS

Between 2010 and 2013, students (n = 654) aged 9-13 years from 25 schools in London and Middlesex County, ON, completed a socio-demographic survey and an activity diary (to identify food purchases), and were observed via a global positioning system for 2 weeks (to track routes for trips to/from school). Spatial data on routes and purchase data were integrated with a validated food outlet database in a geographic information system, and exposure was measured as the minutes a child spent within 50 m of an unhealthy food outlet (i.e., fast food restaurants, variety stores). For trips involving junk food exposure (n = 4588), multilevel logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between exposure and purchasing.

RESULTS

Multilevel analyses indicated that adolescents' duration of exposure to unhealthy food outlets between home and school had a significant effect on the likelihood of junk food purchasing. This relationship remained significant when the data were stratified by sex (female/male), trip direction (to/from school) and travel mode (active/car), with the exception of adolescents who travelled by bus.

CONCLUSION

Policies and programs that mitigate the concentration of unhealthy food outlets close to schools are critical for encouraging healthy eating behaviours among children and reducing diet-related health issues such as obesity.