Zeitschrift für Adipositas- und Gewichtsverlusttherapie

Abstrakt

Underserved Minority Children Are Not Meeting the US Public Health Recommendation for Moderate-Vigorous Physical Activity

William W. Wong, Christina L. Ortiz, Debra Lathan, Louis A. Moore, Karen L. Konzelmann, Anne L. Adolph, O’Brian Smith and Nancy F. Butte

Background: In the US childhood obesity is more prevalent among underserved minority children. It is recommended that children should spend a minimum of 60 min/d in moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in order to maintain a healthy body weight. Methods: We measured the amount of MVPA based on a minimum of 5 consecutive days of Actical measurements in 483 underserved minority children (10.3 ± 1.0 y (range 9-12 y); 51.1% male; 31.1% Black/68.9% Hispanic; 66% overweight or obese) who took part in our community childhood obesity intervention program (Healthy Kids-Houston). The majority of children (93.2%) were from low-income families. Results: The minority children spent only 45 minutes per day on MVPA and only 23% were meeting the MVPA recommendation. Time spent on MVPA decreased with age (-6.8 ± 1.1 min/d (mean ± SE), P<0.01) with boys spending more time (+12.5 ± 1.1min/d, P<0.001) in MVPA than girls. Obese children spent significantly less time (32.1 ± 1.1 min/d) on MVPA than normal weight children (42.2 ± 1.1 min/d, P<0.001) and overweight children (39.7 ± 1.1 min/d, P<0.01). The amount of time spent on MVPA was not significantly different between normal-weight and overweight children (P=0.43). Race (P=0.12) and SES (P=0.39) had no effect on MVPA. Children spent more time on MVPA (+14.5 ± 1.0 min/d, P<0.001) during weekdays than weekend days. Conclusions: Underserved minority children living in a large metropolitan city are not meeting the MVPA recommendation regardless of weight status. To combat childhood obesity, public and private resources should be utilized and the environment improved to promote MVPA in underserved minority communities.