Objectively Measured Physical Activity in Urban Alternative High School Students

• Autores: John R. Sirard, Martha Kubik, Jayne A. Fulkerson, Chrisa Arcan
• Localización: Medicine & Science in Sports & exercise: Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, ISSN 0195-9131, Vol. 40, Nº. 12, 2008, págs. 2088-2095
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Introduction: Alternative high school (AHS) students are an underserved population of youth at greater risk for poor health behaviors and outcomes. Little is known about their physical activity patterns.

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe 1) physical activity levels of students attending alternative high schools (AHS) in St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN, and 2) compliance with wearing a physical activity accelerometer.

    Methods: Sixty-five students (59% male, 65% <18 yr old, 51% African American, 17% Caucasian, 32% mixed and other) wore an accelerometer during all waking hours for 7 d as part of the baseline assessment for a school-based physical activity and dietary behavior intervention. Accelerometer data were reduced to summary variables using a custom software program. Compliance with wearing the accelerometer was assessed by the number of days with >=10 h of data. Accelerometer counts per minute and minutes spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) were calculated.

    Results: Students averaged 323 +/- 143.0 counts[middle dot]min-1 and 51 +/- 25.5 min[middle dot]d-1 of MVPA. Minutes of MVPA[middle dot]d-1 were greater on weekdays compared with the weekend (52 +/- 27.3 vs 43 +/- 39.7 min[middle dot]d-1, respectively; P = 0.05). However, students wore the accelerometer less on the weekends (weekdays = 17.2 +/- 3.0, weekend = 14.9 +/- 6.8 h[middle dot]d-1). Expressing minutes of MVPA as a percentage of the number of minutes of available data, students spent approximately 5% of their time in MVPA on weekdays and weekends. Forty-five percent of students had 7 d of data, 51% had 4-6 d, and 5% had fewer than 4 d. On average, students wore the accelerometer for 17 +/- 3.2 h[middle dot]d-1 (range = 12.0-23.8 h[middle dot]d-1).

    Conclusion: Compliance was high (95% of students provided at least 4 d of data), and physical activity was relatively low representing a vulnerable population in need of further study and intervention.