Abstract
Background. Inadequate opportunities for physical activity at school and overall low levels of activity contribute to the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in American-Indian children. Methods. A school-based physical activity intervention was implemented which emphasized increasing the frequency and quality of physical education (PE) classes and activity breaks. Changes in physical activity were assessed using the TriTrac-R3D accelerometer in a subsample of 580 of the students (34%) randomly selected from the Pathways study cohort. Baseline measures were completed with children in second grade. Follow-up measurements were obtained in the spring of the fifth grade. Results. Intervention schools were more active (+6.3 to +27.2%) than control schools at three of the four sites, although the overall difference between intervention and control schools (∼10%) was not significant (P > 0.05). Boys were more active than girls by 17 to 21% (P ≤ .01) at both baseline and follow-up. Conclusions. Despite the trend for greater physical activity at three of four study sites, and an overall difference of ∼10% between intervention and control schools, high variability in accelerometer AVM and the opportunity to measure physical activity on only 1 day resulted in a the failure to detect the difference as significant.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | S62-S69 |
Journal | Preventive Medicine |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | SUPPL. 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2003 |
Keywords
- Accelerometer
- American Indian children
- Intervention
- Physical activity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health