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Ambulatory physical activity levels of white and South Asian children in Central England
Author(s) -
Duncan Michael J,
Birch Samantha,
AlNakeeb Yahya,
Nevill Alan M
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2011.02566.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pedometer , demography , body mass index , ambulatory , physical activity , ethnic group , names of the days of the week , gerontology , pediatrics , physical therapy , linguistics , philosophy , sociology , anthropology
Aims: To assess ambulatory physical activity in white and south Asian children from Central England and to examine variation in activity between weekdays and weekends. Methods: 536 primary school children [255 boys and 281 girls, mean age (SD) = 9.6 (1.0) years] wore a sealed pedometer for 4 days (2 weekend and 2 weekdays). Repeated measures analysis of covariance was used to examine weekend versus weekday, gender, ethnic and socio‐economic status differences in steps/day controlling for age, hours of daylight and body mass index (BMI). Results: Children attained significantly higher mean steps/day during weekdays than weekends (p = 0.001) with age being more strongly associated with weekend than weekday steps/day (p = 0.014). The decline in steps/day from weekdays to weekends was greater in high compared to low socio‐economic status children (p = 0.002). White children attained higher mean steps/day than south Asian children (p = 0.015). BMI was negatively associated with steps/day (p = 0.004). 39.2 and 29.9% of white and south Asian children met the BMI‐referenced cut‐offs for health. Conclusion: Physical activity was greater during weekdays compared to weekends, was associated with BMI, age and socio‐economic status and white children were more active than south Asian children.