Recreational facilities and parks data were obtained from the City of Toronto and parcel level data by land use category was obtained

from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). Individual land uses were calculated as percentage of the school boundary. The mix of residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and vacant land use (including parks and walkways) within school inhibitors boundaries was measured using an entropy index: Landusemix=Σupu×lnpu/lnnwhere u = land use classification, p = proportion with specific land use, and n = total number classifications. Scores of 0 = single land use, 1 = equal distribution of all classifications (Frank et al., 2004 and Larsen et al., 2009). Roadway

design variables were obtained at the school level from school site audits conducted by two trained observers. The presence of adult school guards employed by Toronto Police AZD6244 Services was recorded. Vehicle speed and volume were measured using manual short-based methods by a third observer along a roadway within 150 m of the school (Donroe et al., 2008 and Marler and Montgomery, 1993). Design variables at the school boundary level were obtained from the City of Toronto and densities were calculated per school boundary area or linear km of roadway. The school was designated urban if over 50% of the attendance www.selleckchem.com/products/ipi-145-ink1197.html boundary fell within the inner urban area. Student socioeconomic status (SES) was measured using the TDSB learning opportunities index (LOI) which is a composite index including parental education, income, housing Megestrol Acetate and immigration (TDSB, 2011). Scores range from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating lower SES. The proportion of households in the school’s DA which fell below after tax, low income cut-offs (ATLICO)

was obtained from the Canadian census as a measure of the SES of the area surrounding the school. The low income cut-off is an income threshold below which a family devotes a larger share of its income than the average family, on necessities i.e. food, shelter and clothing (Statistics Canada, 2009). The proportion of children at the school whose primary language was other than English was included as provided on the TDSB website. The unit of analysis was the school attendance boundaries, with all features processed and mapped onto boundaries using ArcMap (ArcMap, version 10). Road network distance buffers were created around the schools to assess the proportion of roadways within the boundaries within 1.6 km walking distance of the school. Statistical analysis was conducted using SAS (SAS, version 9.3). Multicollinearity of variables was identified by variance inflation factors (VIF) > 10. When pairs of variables were highly correlated, the variable with the higher standardized unadjusted beta coefficient was retained. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all independent variables.