title: Temporal trends in adults' sports participation patterns in England between 1997 and 2006: the Health Survey for England.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine temporal trends in participation in sport and exercise activities in England between 1997 and 2006 while taking into account wider societal changes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A series of annual cross-sectional surveys.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nationally representative samples of men (n = 27 217) and women (n = 33 721) aged >or=16 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Any (more than once every 4 weeks) and regular (more than once a week) participation in overall sport and exercise and a number of sport and exercise groupings (eg cycling, swimming, gym and fitness club-based activities (G/FC), racquet sports). Time point (1997/98, 2003/04, 2006) was the main dependent variable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age-standardised overall regular participation changed from 40.8% in 1997/98 to 41.2% in 2006 for men (multivariable-adjusted participation OR = 1.11 in 2006, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.19, p<0.001) and from 31.2% to 33.9% for women (1.21, 1.13 to 1.29, p<0.001). Regular G/FC increased from 17.0% to 19.2% for men (1.19, 1.09 to 1.30) and from 15.9% to 18.7% for women (1.23, 1.14 to 1.33) and regular running increased from 2.4% to 4.0% for women only (1.84, 1.56 to 2.18). Overall increases were apparent only in older adults (>or=45 years) (1.25, 1.16 to 1.35, p<0.001). Young men (16-29 years) had reduced ORs for cycling (0.72, 0.58 to 0.88, p = 0.008), dancing (0.60, 0.45 to 0.82, p = 0.001), running (0.78, 0.64 to 0.94, p<0.001) and racquet sports (0.60, 0.42 to 0.86, p = 0.003). In men, increases were pronounced only among men from non-manual social classes, higher income households and white ethnic backgrounds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sports and exercise participation in England has changed between 1997 and 2006 as the result of increases among middle-aged and older adults and decreases among young men. There are no signs that the participation gap between less and more advantaged population groups is narrowing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT, UK. e.stamatakis@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stamatakis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chaudhury
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013177:Sports / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D055815:Young Adult