RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Timing of the decline in physical activity in childhood and adolescence: Gateshead Millennium Cohort Study
JF British Journal of Sports Medicine
JO Br J Sports Med
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine
SP 1002
OP 1006
DO 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096933
VO 52
IS 15
A1 Mohammed Abdulaziz Farooq
A1 Kathryn N Parkinson
A1 Ashley J Adamson
A1 Mark S Pearce
A1 Jessica K Reilly
A1 Adrienne R Hughes
A1 Xanne Janssen
A1 Laura Basterfield
A1 John J Reilly
YR 2018
UL http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/15/1002.abstract
AB Background and aim There is a widely held and influential view that physical activity begins to decline at adolescence. This study aimed to identify the timing of changes in physical activity during childhood and adolescence.Methods Longitudinal cohort study (Gateshead Millennium Study) with 8 years of follow-up, from North-East England. Cohort members comprise a socioeconomically representative sample studied at ages 7, 9, 12 and 15 years; 545 individuals provided physical activity data at two or more time points. Habitual total volume of physical activity and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) were quantified objectively using the Actigraph accelerometer over 5–7 days at the four time points. Linear mixed models identified the timing of changes in physical activity across the 8-year period, and trajectory analysis was used to identify subgroups with distinct patterns of age-related changes.Results Four trajectories of change in total volume of physical activity were identified representing 100% of all participants: all trajectories declined from age 7 years. There was no evidence that physical activity decline began at adolescence, or that adolescent declines in physical activity were substantially greater than the declines during childhood, or greater in girls than boys. One group (19% of boys) had relatively high MVPA which remained stable between ages 7 and15 years.Conclusions Future policy and research efforts to promote physical activity should begin well before adolescence, and should include both boys and girls.