title: Pedometer assessed physical activity in urban pubertal children: first report from India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Inadequate physical activity is a risk factor for several lifestyle diseases. In the current study we have tried to evaluate the physical activity levels in urban Indian pubertal children as well as investigate the relationship between step counts and body composition.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1032 children aged 12 to 15 years wore pedometers for 2 weekdays and 2 weekend days, the final cohort included 910 subjects with 467 boys and 443 girls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean weekday steps were 11,062 ± 4741 for boys and 9619 ± 4144 for girls; weekend steps were 10,842 ± 5034 for boys and 9146 ± 5159 for girls, which were both significantly different. The weekend steps were consistently lower in both genders. Analysis of children not meeting a cut-off of 10,000 steps indicated that 45% of the boys aged 12; 54% aged 13; 43% to 48% aged 14 and 50% in the aged 15 did not meet the cut-off. In girls higher levels of inactivity were seen with 58% to 65% aged 12; 69% to 73% aged 13; 49% to 58% aged 14 and 50% to 100% in age-group 15 did not meet the cut-off on weekdays and weekends respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high level of physical inactivity in the representative urban Indian children is a cause of grave concern and necessitates urgent intervention strategies to be formulated.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Cardiac Rehabilitation, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Aashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Contractor
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhanushali
authors.forename: Jyotsna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Changrani
authors.forename: Siddharth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Angadia
authors.forename: Bibhu R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy / Q000295:instrumentation; D000293:Adolescent; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002947:Cities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013334:Students; D014504:Urban Health; D016138:Walking