Location
Lecture Hall-3
Start Date
27-2-2014 3:35 PM
COinS
Feb 27th, 3:35 PM
Feb 27th, 3:45 PM
Levels of Physical Activity and Factors Leading to Decreased Physical Activity Among Secondary School Children of Jamshed Town of Karachi
Lecture Hall-3
Description
Introduction: Physical activity [PA] and physical inactivity habits, established during childhood, continue into adulthood. Physical inactivity leads to chronic non-communicable diseases and is the fourth leading risk for global mortality. PA studies among adolescents are few and none from Pakistan. Therefore, this study assesses PA levels and factors related to inactivity in school-going adolescents. Objectives: To determine 1. PA levels among secondary school-children in Jamshed Town, Karachi 2. Factors related to physical inactivity. Main Outcome Measures: Levels of PA. Study Design: Cross sectional. Setting: Two Private and two Government schools, Jamshed Town, Karachi. Duration of Study: March 2012- June 2013. Subjects: School-children from classes 6, 7 and 8.
Methods: PA of 216 adolescents, enrolled by simple random sampling, was assessed using PA Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) with a 5-point Likert Scale. Socio-demographic and psychosocial factors were also noted. Chi-Square (95% CI) was used to identify factors for PI, Univariate and Multivariate Regression were used to identify the most important factors for Physical inactivity.
Results: 30.1% children were in the low PA category, 69.9% in moderate, and none in the high category. PA was more in Government school-children [OR:2.22; P=0.018], those who were males [OR:4.2; P=0.000], those with parental support for sports [OR:2.34; P= 0.037], who spent time doing homework [OR:3.89; P=0.006] or playing indoors [OR:2.67; P=0.011].
Conclusion: Jamshed Town school-children are not very physically active. Private schooling, female gender and lack of parental support were related to Physical inactivity, whereas doing homework and playing indoors were related to PA.
Keywords: Physical activity, school-children, psychosocial factors, socio- demographic factors