Pooling of childrens physical activity data
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bath
Department Name: Department for Health
Abstract
This research will identify the most impoprtant factors that shape childrens physical activity patterns. These factors might include gender, ethnicity, climate, family actitiy habits, friends, brothers and sisters, the environment in which they live, and perceptions of neighbourhood safety. The project will also clarify just how active childreen need to be to avoid putting on weight and also avoid diabetes and other health risk factors at an early age.
Technical Summary
The importance of physical activity during childhood is now accepted, as obesity rates escalate and the onset of chronic disease appears at earlier stages of the lifecourse. Motion sensors, especially accelerometers, produce more precise data on levels (amounts), patterns (daily, weekly, seasonal) and dimensions (frequency, intensity, duration) of physical activity behaviour. Accelerometers are increasingly being used in larger studies of children and a high level of collaboration between research groups has resulted in comparable measurement and data reduction protocols being applied in such studies. We estimate that around 28,000 measurements of 3-7 days duration have now been made on children using identical accelerometers and similar protocols. The data have been collected in a range of countries, across diverse cultures and including both the childhood and adolescent periods.
The aim of this project is to pool these data to provide new opportunities for analysis. This will provide greatly increased analytical power for more in depth sub-group analyses e.g. minorities, and greater cultural diversity to conduct new analyses of a broader range of variables including social, cultural, ethnic and geographical dimensions.
Data sets have been identified through personal contacts and scrutiny of published literature. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal datasets are available. Research questions include:
1. What are the determinants of physical activity by age, gender, social, cultural, ethnic and geographical groups?
2. What are the dose-response relationships between physical activity and a range of health outcomes (obesity, CVD risk, etc.) by age, gender, social, cultural, ethnic and geographical groups?
The resource will be valuable to researchers, policy makers, health practivioners and students who will have access to the data for future analyses.
The aim of this project is to pool these data to provide new opportunities for analysis. This will provide greatly increased analytical power for more in depth sub-group analyses e.g. minorities, and greater cultural diversity to conduct new analyses of a broader range of variables including social, cultural, ethnic and geographical dimensions.
Data sets have been identified through personal contacts and scrutiny of published literature. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal datasets are available. Research questions include:
1. What are the determinants of physical activity by age, gender, social, cultural, ethnic and geographical groups?
2. What are the dose-response relationships between physical activity and a range of health outcomes (obesity, CVD risk, etc.) by age, gender, social, cultural, ethnic and geographical groups?
The resource will be valuable to researchers, policy makers, health practivioners and students who will have access to the data for future analyses.
