Do Physical Activity and Trip Characteristics Differ When Commuting to and From School?: The PACO Study

Purpose To determine whether trip characteristics (i.e., length, duration, and speed) and physical activity (PA) (i.e., light PA [LPA], moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA], and PA energy expenditure [PAEE]) differ by trip direction (i.e., home-school and school-home trips), and to examine differences in trips characteristics and PA levels between modes of commuting (walking, multimodal, and motorized-vehicle). Methods 181 adolescents wore a belt on their hip with an accelerometer and a GPS. The HABITUS and PALMSplusR softwares were used to combine accelerometer and GPS data and identify trip characteristics and PA levels during home-school and school-home trips. Mixed model analysis was used to examine the differences in trip characteristics and PA levels between the trip directions and across modes of commuting. Results The percentage of school-home walking trips was higher (54.4% vs 46.9%) and had longer duration than the home-school walking trips (p < 0.01). In contrast, multimodal and vehicle trips had a longer duration during the home-school direction than the school-home direction (p < 0.01). Regarding PA levels, the school-home direction presented higher LPA during walking trips (p < 0.01), but lower MVPA (p < 0.01), compared to the home-school direction. Walking trips presented higher MVPA and PAEE than multimodal and motorized-vehicle in both directions, but smaller LPA minutes in home-school direction than multimodal and motorized-vehicle (p < 0.01). Conclusion The percentage of walking trips, the characteristics of the trips, and PA levels during school-home direction differed from home-school direction. In addition, walking trips were associated with higher MVPA levels and PAEE in both directions compare to multimodal or motorized-vehicle.