Influence of active commuting to school on daily physical activity among children and adolescents

To analyze the influence of active commuting to and from school on daily physical activity of children (7–9 years old) and adolescents (10–12 years old). Methods: Longitudinal study, including students from a public school (n = 462; 7–12 years old; 53.6% boys, 46.4% girls). Active commuting (walking and cycling) and physical activities were self-reported using a computational questionnaire. The analyses were conducted via modeling with generalized estimation equations, adjusted for sex, age, and BMI z-score. Results: Active commuting (walking, cycling) occurred in 27.4% and 10.1% of the sample, respectively. Students who cycled to and from school showed 20% more daily physical activity (β2 = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.03–1.40), compared to those who used passive transport. The analysis of the interaction between age and active commuting cycling showed that children who cycled to and from school exhibited more daily physical activity than those in the same age group who did not cycle and those in the adolescent's group who cycled or did not cycle to/from school. Conclusion: Cycling as a way of commuting to and from school was associated with greater daily physical activity. Among children, cycling helped to maintain stable daily physical activity and higher than that observed among children and adolescents who used passive transport. There was no difference in daily physical activity between adolescents that cycled or no to/from school. •Cycling kept the children's physical activity stable throughout the academic year.•Cycling was associated with a high frequency of activities/sports played outdoors.•Walking to and from school did not significantly influence daily physical activity.•Walking to/from school was associated with playing with dolls and ball games.