Active commuting to and from preschool and device-measured physical activity in Swedish preschool children: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Active commuting to and from school is considered an important source of daily physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents. However, little is known about whether this association persists in preschool children. Therefore, this study aims to examine the associations between the mode of commuting to and/or from preschool (i.e., active both ways [to and from], active one way [to or from], and passive both ways) and device-measured PA (i.e., moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA] and light PA [LPA]), sedentary time, and number of steps in a sample of Swedish children aged 3–5 years. Methods The study sample included 323 preschool children (aged 4.7 ± 0.8 years; 43.6% girls). PA levels, sedentary time, and number of steps were measured using accelerometers, and the mode of commuting to and/or from preschool was self-reported by parents. Linear mixed models and multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression were used to examine associations between the daily mode of commuting to and/or from preschool and daily MVPA, LPA, sedentary time, and number of steps. Sensitivity analyses further examined these associations separately for the periods before, during, and after preschool. Results A total of 250 preschool children (77.4%) used active modes of commuting to and/or from preschool. Active commuting to and from preschool was associated with a borderline association for daily MVPA (5.1 min ; 95% CI: 0.2, 10.1), 14.8 more minutes of LPA (95% CI: 5.2, 24.4), 660 additional steps per day (95% CI: 218, 1102), and 19.9 min less sedentary time (95% CI: -31.0, -8.8) compared with preschool children who commuted passively to and from preschool. No associations were found between preschool children who used active modes of commuting in only one direction, to or from preschool and those who used passive modes of commuting (all, p > 0.05). Period-specific sensitivity analyses showed that differences associated with active commuting in both directions were evident before and after preschool and, for some movement behaviors, during preschool hours. Conclusions Active commuting both to and from preschool was associated with a more favorable daily movement pattern than passive commuting, whereas active commuting in only one direction was not. Period-specific findings suggest that these whole-day differences may reflect both activity around commuting periods and broader differences in daily movement patterns.