Comparison of physical activity patterns across large, medium and small urban areas and rural settings in the Otago Region, New Zealand

AIM: This study compared accelerometer-measured physical activity (PA) patterns in adolescents living in diverse urban and rural areas of Otago, New Zealand. METHOD: Participants (n=377; age: 14.9±1.4 years; 66.8% female; 23 schools) completed an online school travel survey, anthropometry and seven-day PA accelerometer assessment. Participants resided in large (n=237), medium (n=45) and small (n=44) urban areas or rural settings (n=51). RESULTS: Overall, participants participated in 54.4±21.0 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) daily and 35.0% met PA guidelines (school day vs weekend day: 40.8% vs 26.0%; p<0.001) with no difference across geographical settings. A greater proportion of males (43.2% vs 31.9%; p=0.016), school sport participants (70.1% vs 54.0%; p=0.005) and active-transport-to-school users (40.2% vs 26.1%) met PA guidelines compared to their counterparts. Compared to rural adolescents, those from large urban areas accumulated more MVPA during the school commute time (before school: 8.3±6.7 vs 5.3±3.8 minutes, p<0.001; after school: 10.1±6.0 vs 7.7±4.3 min, p=0.003), but overall spent more time sedentary (584.9±84.7 vs 527.8±88.2 minutes/day; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: PA in Otago adolescents is low, with significant differences by gender, sport participation, mode of travel to school and geographical setting. Increased PA should be encouraged in both urban and rural adolescents.