The increase in physical performance and gain in lean and fat mass occur in prepubertal children independent of mode of school transportation. One year data from the prospective controlled Pediatric Osteoporosis Prevention (POP) Study

Table 1 Lifestyle factors

	Girls (n = 97)			Boys (n = 133)
	Walking or cycling	Car or bus	p-value	Walking or cycling	Car or bus	p-value
At baseline
Number	n = 60	n = 37		N = 75	n = 58
Distance to school (km)	0.5 (0.5)	1.7 (1.9)	p < 0.001	0.7 (0.64)	1.6 (1.2)	p < 0.001
Excluding dairy products	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1.0	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1.0
Drinking coffee	1 (2%)	0 (0%)	1.0	1 (1%)	1 (2%)	1.0
Tried to lose weight	1 (2%)	0 (0%)	1.0	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1.0
Chronic disease	2 (3%)	1 (3%)	1.0	6 (8%)	3 (5%)	0.73
Medication	2 (3%)	5 (14%)	0.10	8 (11%)	5 (9%)	0.78
Fractures	11 (18%)	2 (5%)	0.12	9 (12%)	3 (5%)	0.23
Menarche	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1.0	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1.0
Total physical activity (hours per week)	0.8 (1.0)	1.2 (1.8)	0.17	1.3 (1.1)	1.7 (1.4)	0.10
During study period - questionnaire data
School PA classes and organised leisure time PA (hour per week)	3.7 (1.7)	3.5 (2.1)	0.53	4.0 (2.1)	5.0 (2.0)	p < 0.01
At follow-up - Accelerometer data
Number	n = 53	n = 34		n = 68	n = 54
Recording time per day (min/day)	11.9 (1.3)	11.9 (1.3)	0.97	12.0 (1.4)	11.9 (1.4)	0.83
Mean activity (mean counts/min)	614 (148)	629 (164)	0.66	728 (234)	758 (257)	0.51
Moderate to vigorous activity (min/day	188 (35)	195 (42)	0.39	207 (52)	211 (47)	0.68
Vigorous activity (min/day)	34 (13)	36 (14)	0.55	45 (20)	46 (20)	0.84

Subjective estimated level of physical activity during the study period and objective level of physical activity at follow up in 60 girls and 75 boys who walked or cycled to school and in 37 girls and 58 boys who commuted by car or bus. Data are presented as numbers of children with the proportion within each group (in brackets) expressed as % or as mean (SD) with p-values calculated with two-tailed independent student t-tests between means or with Fisher exact test.

ISSN: 2049-3258