Physical activity and its correlates in children: a cross-sectional study (the GINIplus & LISAplus studies)

Sandra Ortlieb; Gabriel Schneider; Sibylle Koletzko; Dietrich Berdel; Andrea von Berg; Carl-Peter Bauer; Beate Schaaf; Olf Herbarth; Irina Lehmann; Barbara Hoffmann; Joachim Heinrich; Holger Schulz

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-349

Table 2 Characteristics of the study population: school children (10 years), stratified by sex

From: Physical activity and its correlates in children: a cross-sectional study (the GINIplus & LISAplus studies)

			Total (n 3840)	Boys (n 1997)	Girls (n 1843)
			%	%	%	p-Value^*
Outcome
Physical activity ^a (per week)
Summer	Light	< 6 h	26.3	27.6	24.9	0.0569
		6 – 14 h	44.7	44.8	44.6
		> 14 h	29.0	27.6	30.6
	Moderate	< 5 h	30.3	28.4	32.5	0.0113
		5 – 9 h	34.5	34.7	34.4
		> 9 h	35.1	36.9	33.2
	Vigorous	< 4 h	36.5	26.2	47.5	<.0001
		4 – 6 h	35.3	37.8	32.7
		> 6 h	28.2	36.0	19.8
Winter	Light	< 5 h	28.4	28.7	28.1	0.8874
		5 – 11 h	45.8	45.7	45.9
		> 11 h	25.8	25.6	26.1
	Moderate	< 3 h	28.5	26.9	30.3	0.0175
		3 – 6 h	42.6	42.5	42.6
		> 6 h	28.9	30.6	27.1
	Vigorous	< 3 h	33.8	27.7	40.4	<.0001
		3 – 4 h	33.2	32.6	33.8
		> 4 h	33.1	39.7	25.9
Biological
BMI ^b		Underweight	8.7	8.7	8.7	0.6698
		Normal weight	82.3	81.9	82.8
		Overweight	6.6	6.7	6.5
		Obese	2.4	2.7	2.1
Start of puberty		yes	29.9	12.2	49.0	<.0001
Siblings		yes	87.9	87.7	88.1	0.6928
Parental BMI ^c	Mother	Underweight	2.5	2.4	2.6	0.4895
		Normal weight	70.0	69.7	70.3
		Overweight	19.6	20.4	18.8
		Obese	7.9	7.4	8.3
	Father	Underweight	0.2	0.3	0.1	0.2545
		Normal weight	43.6	44.3	42.8
		Overweight	45.2	44.6	46.0
		Obese	11.0	10.8	11.2
Social
Parental education ^d		Low	5.9	6.5	5.3	0.2067
		Moderate	26.0	26.5	25.4
		High	68.1	67.0	69.3
Household income ^e		Low	6.4	6.7	6.1	0.2522
		Moderate	22.7	23.6	21.7
		High	70.9	69.7	72.2
Behavioral
TV/PC (per day)	Summer	< 1 h	68.0	64.3	72.0	<.0001
		1 – 2 h	30.4	33.6	26.8
		> 2 h	1.6	2.1	1.2
	Winter	< 1 h	32.6	29.6	35.8	<.0001
		1 – 2 h	56.4	57.6	55.1
		> 2 h	11.0	12.8	9.1
Method of arriving school ^f		Active	65.6	66.6	64.6	0.3355
		Passive	26.6	25.6	27.7
		Mixed	7.8	7.8	7.8
Membership of a sports club		yes	85.1	86.8	83.3	0.0021
Time Outdoors (h per day)
	Summer	< 3 h	11.5	10.7	12.4	0.2373
		3 – 5 h	68.4	69.3	67.4
		> 5 h	20.1	20.0	20.2
	Winter	< 2 h	30.3	27.6	33.2	0.0002
		2 – 3 h	60.7	62.2	59.0
		> 3 h	9.1	10.2	7.8
Psychological
Emotional Symptoms ^g		Normal	82.7	83.2	83.2	0.3519
		Borderline	7.4	6.8	8.1
		Abnormal	9.8	10.0	9.7

^*p-values from Pearsons Chi-Quadrat Test; ^aPhysical activity: light activity (no sweating. normal respiration. like walking). moderate activity (some sweating. moderately increased respiration. like cycling/swimming) and vigorous activity (strong sweating. fast respiration like ball games/training); ^bBMI according to the classification by Kromeyer-Hauschild et al.; ^cParental BMI according to WHO classification; ^dParental education: low (less than tenth grade). moderate (tenth grade). high (more than tenth grade); ^eHousehold income adjusted for size of household and study region (class size based on distribution of parternal education); ^fHow they reach school: active (by foot or by bike). passive (by car. bus or train). mixed (alternate active and passive way to school); ^gEmotional symptoms according to the German version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

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