Abstract
Social inequalities exist among adults with regard to levels of physical activity (PA) and overweight. This relationship is not known among children and adolescents. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of PA and prevalence of overweight for a group of urban 9-year old children from areas with different social position. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 449 children aged 9–10 y was conducted on 9 primary schools in Oslo, the capitol of Norway. Ninety-two percent of the children agreed to participate. PA was measured objectively using MTI 7164 accelerometer for 4 consecutive days. A number of 378 children achieved valid activity measurements that met all inclusion criteria. Body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) was used as an indicator of body fatness and the cutpoints introduced by Cole et al (2000) were used as an indicator of overweight. Social position was denned as high or low by geographical location of the school. Because of positive skewness, scores for PA (counts-min-1) and BMI were log transformed for the analysis. RESULTS: Analysis by gender revealed that girls from areas with high social position (n=70) showed a significantly higher overall level of PA compared to girls from areas with low social position (n=98) (879±363 and 723±250 counts-min-1, respectively, p=0.001). This relationship was not found among boys. Both boys (p=0.02) and girls (p=0.001) from areas with low social position showed a significantly lower level of PA during weekends compared to workdays. This relationship was not found among children from areas with high social position. The prevalence of overweight was significantly higher for the children with low social position compared to the group with high social position (24% and 11%, respectively, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed a significantly higher level of PA and lower prevalence of overweight among children from areas with high social position compared to children from areas with low social position. These differences are important to acknowledge in the process of minimizing social inequalities in health.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
