McDonald's Corp's (MCD.N) worldwide sales at established restaurants fell 1.7 percent in February as sales in the United States were hurt by "aggressive competitive activity".

Sales at the company's U.S. restaurants open at least 13 months fell 4 percent last month, after growing 0.4 percent in each of the two prior months.

February same-restaurant sales were down 4.4 percent in McDonald's Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) business, which includes China.

That was an improvement from the 12.6 percent drop in January, as declines related to the food scandals in China and Japan eased.

Analysts on average had estimated a 0.3 percent fall in the company's worldwide same-restaurant sales in February, according to analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix. That included expected declines of 0.7 percent in the United States and 3.1 percent in APMEA.