Personal and Environmental Associations with Childrens Health

This study was an observational study in school-age children to explore the role of the physical environment in physical activity and eating behaviours. We recruited 1307 children from across Bristol in their final year of primary school, and followed them up 1 year (n=953) and four years (n=590) later, in their 1st and 4th years of secondary school respectively. At each time point we measured physical activity by accelerometry, spatial location by GPS, and a wide range of other outcome measures by computerised questionnaire. The main findings were that time outdoors, and more specifically walking to school, were major determinants of childrens physical activity at each age. We were the first to develop the method of merging accelerometer and GPS data to describe level and location of physical activity.