A profile of children’s physical activity data from the 2012 and 2015 health survey for England

Sims, Jamie, Milton, Karen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0506-2214, Foster, Charlie and Scarborough, Peter (2022) A profile of children’s physical activity data from the 2012 and 2015 health survey for England. BMC Public Health, 22 (1). ISSN 1471-2458

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Abstract

Background: Low childhood physical activity levels constitute an important modifiable risk for adult non-communicable disease incidence and subsequent socio-economic burden, but few publications have explored age and sex related patterns within the UK population. The aims were to profile child physical activity data from the Health Survey for England from 2012 (1,732 respondents) and 2015 (5,346 respondents). Methods: Reported physical activity episodes were converted to metabolic equivalents with reference to child-specific compendiums. Physical activity levels were aggregated for each domain, and again to produce total physical activity estimates. Contributions from each domain to total physical activity were explored, stratifying for age, sex, socio-economic deprivation, ethnicity, and weight status. Further analyses were run stratifying for physical activity levels. Few differences were detected between the survey iterations. Results: Boys reported higher absolute levels of physical activity at all ages and across all domains. For boys and girls, informal activity reduces with age. For boys this reduction is largely mitigated by increased formal sport, but this is not the case for girls. Absolute levels of school activity and active travel remained consistent regardless of total physical activity, thereby comprising an increasingly important proportion of total physical activity for less active children. Conclusions: We recommend a specific focus on establishing and maintaining girl’s participation in formal sport thorough their teenage years, and a recognition and consolidation of the important role played by active travel and school-based physical activity for the least active children.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding Information: PS is supported by a BHF Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship (FS/15/34/31656).
Uncontrolled Keywords: child health,ethnicity,health survey for england,physical activity,public health, environmental and occupational health,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2739
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Lifespan Health
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 20 Oct 2022 10:30
Last Modified: 03 Jan 2024 03:11
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/89240
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-14150-4

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