Age, period and cohort effects and the predictors of physical activity and sedentary behaviour among Chinese children, from 2004 to 2011

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Hui Wang¹  Meihua Shen²  Yu Zang³  Shurong Zou⁴  Xiaodong Jia⁴  Jiajie Zang⁴  Xiangui He⁵  Xinping Wei⁶ 

[1] Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, 101 Longmian Ave, Jiangning District, 211166, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China;Department of Intensive Care Unit, Shanghai Provincial Crops Hospital, Chinese People’s Armed Police Forces, 831 Hongxu Road, 201103, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information, Engineering, Ministry of Education, Institute of Mitochondrial Biology and Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Life Science and Technology, 710049, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China;Department of Neurology, the Affiliated Hospital of North China University of Science and Technology, No.73 south construction road, Tangshan, Hebei, People’s Republic of China;Department of Nutrition Hygiene, Division of Health Risk Factor Monitoring and Control, Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1380 West Zhongshan Road, Changning District, 200336, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;Department of Preventative Ophthalmology, Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Treatment Center, Shanghai Eye Hospital, 200040, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;Gu Mei Community Service Center, 668 Longming Road, 200010, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;

关键词: Physical activity;    Age;    Period;    Cohort;    Children;    China;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-017-4215-x

 received in 2016-07-13, accepted in 2017-04-01,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundVery few studies have explored the effects of age, time period, and cohort in association with biological, behavioral, economic, and environmental factors predictors on physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) among Chinese children.MethodsWe used data from a cohort study of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) between 2004 and 2011 (2004, 2006, 2009 and 2011). The outcomes of interest were metabolic equivalent of task (MET) hours per week from both active and sedentary activities. Age, gender, individual characteristics, household size, asset ownership, and urbanisation were included as covariates. Age, period and cohort effects analyses for PA and SB of children (6–17 y, n = 3528) was conducted to explicitly assess differences in PA and SB due to age vs. period effects, and implicitly assess differences by cohorts due to the period-specific experiences across individuals of varying ages.ResultsThe mean age of the sample in each time point fluctuated from 12.6 to 11.3 years and PA slightly decreased from 50.0 ± 63.2 MET hours per week (MET-hr./wk) in 2004 to 47.1 ± 54.9 MET-hr./wk. in 2011. However, SB increased from 31.8 ± 22.0 MET-hr./wk. to 37.6 ± 22.2 MET-hr./wk. Girls had lower PA and higher SB levels than boys. Controlling for age effects, marginal period effects on PA were observed in some survey years. Higher levels of urbanisation and number of household computers served as negative and positive predictors for PA and SB, respectively. Higher household income was a positive predictor of SB. Surprisingly, bigger household size was the only negative predictor of SB (P < 0.05).ConclusionsThis longitudinal study followed a large cohort of children over a significant period of their childhood. We observed potential age and secular trends in PA levels. Higher community urbanisation and number of home computers were associated with both PA and SB levels. Larger household size was the only factor that was negatively associated with SB. These findings shed light on health policy and preventative health strategies for China and other countries that are now facing similar public health challenges.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017