Resumen de Differences in Physical Activity Levels Between White and South Asian Children in the United Kingdom
Mitch J. Duncan, Lorayne Woodfield, Yahya Al-Nakeeb
The purpose of this study was to compare physical activity levels between white and South Asian children in the UK. The data were obtained from 606, 11�14 year old schoolchildren (397 white; 209 Asian). Physical activity was assessed using the �four by one day� recall questionnaire from which the time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity was calculated. Boys were significantly more active than girls (p = .0001), and white children reported significantly greater physical activity than south Asian children (p = .001). Mean ± SD of time spent in moderate and vigorous activity was 90.2 ± 65.4 mins and 68.2 ± 49.3 mins for white and south Asian children and 103.5 ± 63.4 mins and 65.6 ± 53.5 mins for boys and girls respectively. These findings indicate that south Asian children are significantly less active than their white peers and there may be a need for specific interventions to target South Asian children particularly.
