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Published on: March 7, 2019
The contribution of active transportation to population physical activity levels
Stephanie A Prince1,2, Gregory P Butler1
1Centre for Surveillance and Applied Research, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract:
We explored the contribution of active (nonmotorized) transportation, including walking and cycling, to physical activity (PA) levels and its association with PA recommendations adherence (youth: ≥ 60 min/day; adults: ≥ 150 min/week) using self-reported domain-specific and accelerometer-measured PA from Cycles 4 to 6 (2014-2019) of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (N = 8620). Recreation and household or occupational PA were similar for users and non-users, but accelerometer-measured PA was significantly higher among active transportation users (12-17 years: 56.6 vs. 47.7 min/ day; 18-64 years: 33.4 vs. 22.8 min/day, 65-79 years: 21.5 vs. 13.7 min/day). Active transportation was not associated with meeting the PA recommendation for youth after adjusting for confounders (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.39; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.91-2.11), but it was for adults (18-64 years: aOR = 2.71, 95% CI: 2.18-3.37; 65-79 years: aOR = 2.26, 95% CI: 1.39-3.69). Given its contribution to population PA levels, supporting active transportation should be considered an important tool for health promotion.
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