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.