Patterns of Active Commuting to School in Spanish Preschool Children and Its Associations with Socio-Economic Factors: The PREFIT Project.

Manuel Herrador-Colmenero,Pedro J Benito,Adrià Muntaner-Mas,Diego Moliner-Urdiales,Palma Chillón,Manuel A Rodríguez-Pérez,Idoia Labayen,Álvaro Delgado-Alfonso,Joaquín Sanchís-Moysi,Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno,Cristina Cadenas-Sanchez,Gabriel Lozano-Berges

doi:10.3390/ijerph182111180

Abstract

The aims of this study were to describe patterns of active commuting to school (ACS) of preschool children, and to analyse the relationship between ACS and family socio-economic factors. A total of 2636 families of preschoolers (3-to-5 years old) were asked to complete a questionnaire at home about the mode of commuting to school of their children and marital status, educational level, and profession of both father and mother. Chi-square analyses were applied to compare ACS between school grades and gender of the children. To analyse the association of ACS with socio-economic factors, logistic regression analyses were performed. Almost 50% of participants reported ACS of their offspring, with a higher rate in 3rd preprimary grade (5 years old) than in 1st and 2nd preprimary grades (3- and 4-years old. All, p < 0.05). Those preschool children who had parents with lower educational level and no managerial work had higher odds to ACS than those who had parents with higher educational level and managerial work (all, p ≤ 0.001). Around half of the Spanish preschool children included in this study commuted actively to school and families with lower educational levels or worse employment situation were related to active commuting to school.

Highlights

Physical activity in preschool children has shown positive health benefits such as better physical fitness, psychosocial health, cardiometabolic health, and bone and skeletal health [1,2]
In the relationship between the active commuting to school with family socio-economic factors, this study showed that active commuting to school in preschool children is higher in lower educational levels and with no managerial work of both father and mother
This study suggests that around half of the analyzed Spanish preschool children commuted actively to school, being the age related with this healthy behavior

Summary

Introduction

Physical activity in preschool children has shown positive health benefits such as better physical fitness, psychosocial health, cardiometabolic health, and bone and skeletal health [1,2]. The prevalence of children under 6 years old who meet physical activity recommendations is low. A study in the United Kingdom reported that around 90% of the children aged 2 to 4 years old did not reach the 180 min of daily physical activity recommended by the guidelines of this country [3]. Guidelines usually did not include information about two important movement behaviours: sleep and light physical activity [6]. A novel framework to optimize health of preschool children suggests understanding the movement behaviour as a continuum in a 24 h period, in which this continuum is composed of physical activity time, sedentary behaviours, and sleep. Despite the need for targeting in all the components to obtain the greater benefit, reallocating sedentary behaviours into light physical activity might provide positive health benefits [6]

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Conclusion