Biomedical subjects

Gareth Stratton

Publications and source records attributed to Gareth Stratton.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Improving physical activity assessment in prepubertal children with high-frequency accelerometry monitoring: a methodological issue.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the duration of physical activity (PA) bouts in prepubertal children with high-frequency accelerometry monitoring. METHODS: Thirteen boys and thirteen girls (aged 8-10 years) from one school in North of France had their PA recorded during 7 days using a uniaxial Actigraph accelerometer. To examine PA behavior patterns, the epoch was set at 2 s. Times spent in light (LPA), moderate (MPA), vigorous (VPA) and very high (VHPA) intensity activity and the daily number of PA bouts of different durations (from 2 to 1200 s) were calculated for each intensity level. Data were collected in 2004. RESULTS: The mean duration of PA bouts was 70.8+/-13.2 s for LPA, 9.0+/-2.8 s for MPA, 4.7+/-1.2 s for VPA and 3.9+/-1.6 s for VHPA. For the whole population, 80% of MPA, 93% of VPA and 96% of VHPA lasted less than 10 s. Although times spent in VPA and VHPA represented 2.4% of the total PA time, VPA and VHPA bouts accounted for 36.1+/-5.8% of the total amount of PA. CONCLUSION: Children's PA pattern is highly transitory and intermittent whatever its intensity. Physical activity assessed with a sampling interval related to children's behavior may improve our understanding of their PA patterns.

Acceleration↗

PubMed2006

Day-to-day and seasonal variability of physical activity during school recess.

OBJECTIVE: Children's physical activity levels are difficult to establish on a day-to-day or season-to-season basis. Most studies have attempted to measure reliability in habitual settings. This study investigated the variability in children's physical activity during recess. METHODS: Fifteen boys and 19 girls (aged 6 to 11 years) from 2 schools in North West England wore heart rate monitors for 5 consecutive days in summer and winter terms to assess day-to-day and seasonal variability during school recess. Data were collected in 2004. Repeated measures ANOVA's and intraclass correlations (ICC) analysed the day-to-day and seasonal variability in children's moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) data. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in children's MVPA and VPA across days and seasons. ICCs for MVPA across 2 days ranged from 0.75 to 0.85 in summer, and from 0.53 to 0.81 in winter. Three-day MVPA ICCs were 0.83 in summer and 0.71 in winter. CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed no significant variation in children's recess physical activity levels across days and seasons. Whilst children were free to choose their recess activities in school, the results suggested that children were relatively consistent in their choices, limiting physical activity variability.

Child↗

PubMed2006

Physical activity levels of children during school playtime.

School represents a suitable setting for intervention programmes aiming to promote physical activity to benefit health. During the school day, physical education and school playtime offer children regular opportunities to engage in physical activity. However, there is growing concern that, internationally, curricular time allocated to physical education is not meeting statutory guidelines. The effectiveness of the playground environment to promote physical activity has been considered as a complementary setting to physical education. Physical activity guidelines state that children should engage in at least 1 hour of moderate intensity physical activity a day. Currently no empirically tested guidelines exist for physical activity levels during playtime. However, studies cited in this article indicate that playtime can contribute between 5-40% of recommended daily physical activity levels when no interventions have been utilised. The limited school-based investigations that have been reported in the literature suggest that boys engage in more physical activity during playtime than girls. Studies that have implemented intervention strategies in order to promote physical activity levels indicate that playtime can substantially contribute towards daily optimal physical activity guidelines. Energy expenditure and physical activity levels have increased during playtime following the implementation of playtime-based interventions. In order to advance knowledge of children's physical activity during playtime, a number of key issues for consideration in future research are detailed. Research on children's use of playtime to be physically active and the extent of the contribution of playtime to daily physical activity guidelines is warranted.

Child↗

PubMed2005

The effect of multicolor playground markings on children's physical activity level during recess.

BACKGROUND: British children do not meet daily physical activity recommendations, and as yet no sustainable intervention has been reported to address their sedentary lifestyle. The purpose of this investigation was twofold: First, to examine whether painting playgrounds with multicolored markings would increase the percent of recess time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) in girls and boys and second to quantify the contribution recess makes to national recommendations for young people's physical activity. METHODS: MVPA and vigorous physical activity (VPA) were measured using short wave heart rate telemetry. Physical activity levels were compared before and after playgrounds were painted in 4 intervention schools and compared to 4 matched schools with unmarked playgrounds. Schools were situated in areas of deprivation. Ninety-nine children completed the study. RESULTS: A significant interaction (group x time) was evident for MVPA and VPA. Time spent in MVPA and VPA increased significantly in intervention schools as a result of playground painting. Boys were more active than girls, and activity decreased with age, but neither difference reached significance. CONCLUSION: Multicolor playground markings can be a low-cost method of increasing children's daily physical activity levels in the short term. If these increases were sustained, then school playgrounds with multicolor markings would make a valuable contribution to physical activity recommendations for young people.

Child↗

PubMed2005

Is overweight and obesity in 9-10-year-old children in Liverpool related to deprivation and/or electoral ward when based on school attended?

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether weight problems in children (overweight, obesity and overweight or obesity) were related to deprivation indices when attributed only according to electoral ward of the school attended. To determine whether children with weight problems were more likely to be found in some wards rather than others, and to compare the distribution for boys and girls. DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional, observational study. SETTING: One hundred and six primary schools from all parts of Liverpool city. SUBJECTS: Five cohorts of 9-10-year-old children between 1998 and 2003. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Body mass index (BMI) for each child to estimate proportions overweight, obese and overweight or obese according to international criteria. RESULTS: Between January 1998 and March 2003, the heights and weights of 7902 boys and 7514 girls were measured and BMI calculated. The prevalence of boys and girls categorised as overweight or obese was very high (1620, 20.6% and 1909, 25.7%, respectively). Prevalence was not related to deprivation and varied between wards only for the girls; some wards had very different prevalence rates for boys and girls (Picton: 59 boys, 23.4%; 106 girls, 36.6%). The most deprived ward did not have a remarkable prevalence of overweight or obesity (Speke: 32 boys, 15.3%; 40 girls, 19.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Obesity is a major problem and requires urgent action but targeting intervention on the basis of administrative areas may be very wasteful. Different factors seem to lead to obesity in boys and girls, and attention should be paid to the role of the physical environment.

Body Mass Index↗

PubMed2004

Assessing physical activity during recess using accelerometry.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity guidelines recommend children should engage in 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) a day. School recess presents an opportunity for children to be physically active during the school day. Limited research has investigated children's activity levels during recess and its contribution to physical activity recommendations. Moreover, no target for physical activity during recess has been set. METHODS: One hundred sixteen boys and 112 girls (aged 5-10 years) from 23 schools had their physical activity during recess quantified using a uniaxial accelerometer during three recess breaks on one school day. The percentage of time spent engaged in moderate, high, and very high intensity activity was calculated using existing thresholds. RESULTS: Boys engaged in more moderate, high, and very high intensity activity than girls. On average, boys and girls spent 32.9% and 23% of recess engaged in physical activity, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Boys engaged in higher intensity activities than girls. The results suggest that recess can contribute 28 min for boys and 21.5 min for girls toward the accumulation of recommended daily physical activity. However, the physical activity intensities that children engaged in were low during recess. On average, children in this study did not achieve 50% of recess time in physical activity. Interventions for increasing the physical activity of children in the playground are warranted.

Body Mass Index↗