Health and Sociodemographic Differences between Individual and Team Sport Participants.

Jennifer R Pharr,Nancy L Lough,Mary Angela Terencio

doi:10.3390/sports7060150

Abstract

Physical activity (PA) has been widely recognized as an avenue to improve health. Researchers have also found better health outcomes among adults who participate in sport when compared to adults who participate in other forms of PA. However, little is known about the health differences between those who participate in individual versus team sport. The purpose of the study was to identify differences in chronic diseases, conditions, or risk factors between individual and team sport participants. This study was a secondary analysis of data from the national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey conducted in 2017. PA that was identified as sport was further categorized as an individual or a team sport. Odds and adjusted odds ratios for chronic diseases based on sport category were calculated using logistic regression. There were significant differences in all sociodemographic characteristics between the groups. Those who participated in team sport did so for more minutes and at a higher intensity and were less likely to report several chronic diseases/conditions. However, after controlling for sociodemographic differences between groups, only depression, general health, and smoking remained significant. The social aspect of team sport may be protective against depression but may also influence unhealthy behaviors such as smoking.

Highlights

Being physically active provides a host of health benefits, in both adult life and childhood.Compared to people who are inactive, those who engage in physical activity (PA) have reduced risk for several chronic diseases and conditions including diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and depression [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The social aspect of team sport may be protective against depression but may influence unhealthy behaviors such as smoking
People who participated in individual sport were more likely to be married, college graduates, older, White, in the highest income bracket, and out of the labor force

Summary

Introduction

Compared to people who are inactive, those who engage in physical activity (PA) have reduced risk for several chronic diseases and conditions including diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, and depression [1,2,3,4,5,6]. People who are physically active have improved bone density, lung function, mood, and sense of well-being when compared to their inactive peers [2,3,4,7]. The energy cost of rest is equal to one MET. MET values have been established for different forms of PA, and these values are used to compare the intensity of different activities to rest. The MET value of playing competitive soccer is 10, meaning that playing competitive soccer requires 10 times more energy than resting

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