Walking School Bus and its impact on BMI

Background: When school budgets require cuts to bus services, more parents drive children to school due to safety concerns. Purpose: Society benefits with opportunities for physical activity within normal daily routines. For children, a normal daily routine is the trip to and from school. Significance: Since 1970, obesity prevalence has more than quadrupled in ages 6-11. Methods: Quasi-experimental in design, schools with a Walking School Bus measured pre- and post-BMI in 1102 cases and controls ages 5-12. A parent questionnaire evaluated dose response, contributors or barriers to a child's active commute, and confounders such as the child's physical activity during leisure. Results: The provision of an adult-chaperoned walk-to-school program increased the percentage of children actively commuting to school, as compared to the national average, p < .0005 (one-tailed)(SPSS Nonparametric Binomial), and reduced BMI, z = - 10.125, p < .0005 (two-tailed)(Wilcoxon Signed Rank). 65% of obese students who actively commuted to school were no longer obese in post-testing. 47% of overweight students who actively commuted to school were within the healthy weight category in post-testing. The number needed to treat was 6 indicating that one case of obesity or overweight was prevented when six students actively commuted to school. Conclusions: The Walking School Bus significantly increased the percentage of children actively commuting to school and childhood overweight significantly reduced in students who walked or biked to school. The Walking School Bus was sufficient to overcome many barriers to the active commute to school.