Physical activity patterns of inner-city elementary schoolchildren.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to objectively measure the physical activity (PA) characteristics of a racially and ethnically diverse sample of inner-city elementary schoolchildren and to examine the influence of sex, race/ethnicity, grade level, and weight status on PA.


METHODS
A total of 470 students in grades 4-6 from six inner-city schools in Philadelphia wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer (Actigraph, Pensacola, FL) for up to 7 d. The resultant data were uploaded to a customized Visual Basic EXCEL macro to determine the time spent in sedentary (SED), light-intensity PA (LPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA).


RESULTS
On average, students accumulated 48 min of MVPA daily. Expressed as a percentage of monitoring time, students were sedentary for 63% of the time, in LPA 31% of the time, and in MVPA 6% of the time. Across all race/ethnicity and grade level groups, boys exhibited significantly higher levels of MVPA than girls did; fifth-grade boys exhibited significantly lower MVPA levels than fourth- and sixth-grade boys did, and sixth-grade girls exhibited significantly lower MVPA levels than fourth- and fifth-grade girls did. Hispanic children exhibited lower levels of MVPA than children from other racial/ethnic groups did, and overweight and obese children exhibited significantly lower MVPA levels than children in the healthy weight range did. Across the entire sample, only 24.3% met the current public health guidelines for PA. Physical inactivity was significantly greater among females, Hispanics, and overweight and obese students.


CONCLUSIONS
Fewer than one in four inner-city schoolchildren accumulated the recommended 60 min of MVPA daily. These findings highlight the need for effective and sustainable programs to promote PA in inner-city youth.
School of Human Movement Studies, The University of Queensland, Australia. s.trost@uq.edu.au
Stewart G
SG
Trost
Tara A
TA
McCoy
Stephanie S
SS
Vander Veur
Giridhar
G
Mallya
Meghan L
ML
Duffy
Gary D
GD
Foster
D056044:Actigraphy; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001835:Body Weight; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*