Sociodemographic profiles, educational attainment and physical activity associated with The Daily Mile™ registration in primary schools in England – a national cross-sectional linkage study
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Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Objective
To examine primary school and local authority characteristics associated with registration
for The Daily Mile (TDM), an active mile initiative aimed at increasing physical activity in
children.
Design
A cross-sectional linkage study using routinely collected data.
Setting
All state funded primary schools in England from 2012-2018(n=15,815).
Results
3,502 of all 15,815(22.1%) state funded primary schools in England were registered to do
TDM, ranging from 16% in the East Midlands region to 31% in Inner London.
Primary schools registered for TDM had larger mean pupil numbers compared with schools
that had not registered (300 vs 269 respectively). There was a higher proportion of TDM
registered schools in urban areas compared with non-urban areas. There was local authority
variation in the likelihood of school registration (ICC: 0.094).
After adjusting for school and local authority characteristics, schools located in a major
urban conurbation (OR 1.46 (95%CI:1.24-1.71) urban vs. rural) and schools with a higher
proportion of disadvantaged pupils had higher odds of being registered to the TDM (OR 1.16
(95%CI:1.02-1.33)). Area based physical activity and schools’ educational attainment was
not significantly associated with registration to TDM.
Conclusion
One in five primary schools in England has registered for The Daily Mile since 2012. TDM
appears to be a wide-reaching school based physical activity intervention that is reaching
more disadvantaged primary school populations in urban areas where obesity prevalence is
highest. TDM registered schools include those with both high and low educational
attainment and are in areas with high and low physical activity
To examine primary school and local authority characteristics associated with registration
for The Daily Mile (TDM), an active mile initiative aimed at increasing physical activity in
children.
Design
A cross-sectional linkage study using routinely collected data.
Setting
All state funded primary schools in England from 2012-2018(n=15,815).
Results
3,502 of all 15,815(22.1%) state funded primary schools in England were registered to do
TDM, ranging from 16% in the East Midlands region to 31% in Inner London.
Primary schools registered for TDM had larger mean pupil numbers compared with schools
that had not registered (300 vs 269 respectively). There was a higher proportion of TDM
registered schools in urban areas compared with non-urban areas. There was local authority
variation in the likelihood of school registration (ICC: 0.094).
After adjusting for school and local authority characteristics, schools located in a major
urban conurbation (OR 1.46 (95%CI:1.24-1.71) urban vs. rural) and schools with a higher
proportion of disadvantaged pupils had higher odds of being registered to the TDM (OR 1.16
(95%CI:1.02-1.33)). Area based physical activity and schools’ educational attainment was
not significantly associated with registration to TDM.
Conclusion
One in five primary schools in England has registered for The Daily Mile since 2012. TDM
appears to be a wide-reaching school based physical activity intervention that is reaching
more disadvantaged primary school populations in urban areas where obesity prevalence is
highest. TDM registered schools include those with both high and low educational
attainment and are in areas with high and low physical activity
Date Issued
2021-01-08
Date Acceptance
2020-08-14
Citation
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2021, 75 (2), pp.137-144
ISSN
0143-005X
Publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
Start Page
137
End Page
144
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Volume
75
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
NIHR
National Institute for Health Research
The Daily Mile Foundation
Identifier
https://jech.bmj.com/content/75/2/137
Grant Number
PD-SPH-2015-10055
N/A
Subjects
Physical activity
epidemiology
obesity
public health policy
1117 Public Health and Health Services
1604 Human Geography
Epidemiology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-10-01