Physical activity of children and youth in Nova Scotia from 2001/02 and 2005/06

Abstract

Objectives This paper reports on physical activity of students in grades 3, 7, and 11 from two surveillance studies (from 2001 and 2005). Methods Randomly selected students (Study1 n = 1730; Study2 n = 2341) from randomly selected schools in Nova Scotia participated. Physical activity was measured for seven consecutive days using Actigraph accelerometers. Descriptive statistics were calculated for moderate, hard, and very hard intensity, and total minutes of physical activity. Between study, grade, and sex differences were determined using univariate Analyses of Variance. Results Students in Study2 were significantly less active (mean [SD] = 531.0 [392.3] min/week) than Study1 (662.2 [495.1] min/week). Girls were significantly less active (525.4 [419.1] min/week) than boys (657.1 [460.3] min/week). Students in grade 11 were significantly less active (225.2 [171.1] min/week) than students in grade 7 (457.5 [227.2] min/week) who were significantly less active than students in grade 3 (1038.4 [387.6] min/week). A significant study–grade interaction indicated that compared to students in grades 7 and 11, the level of physical activity in students in grade 3 was considerably lower in Study2 compared to Study1. Conclusions Given the lower level of physical activity found in Study2, efforts at informing public policy and strategies that promote physical activity in children and youth should be made.