142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Online Program

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

307791
Physical activity patterns among children with asthma: Results from the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Gergana Kodjebacheva, Ph.D. , Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Michigan - Flint and University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Flint, MI
Shandowyn L. Parker, PhD, MPH , Department of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, MI
Greg Rybarczyk, PhD , Department of Earth and Resource Science, University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, MI
Background:Children with asthma may be less likely to engage in physical activity due to fears of experiencing exercise-induced asthma attacks. With treatment and education, asthmatic children should be able to fully participate in exercise. We focused on an area of limited research by examining the influence of asthma attacks on different types of exercise.

Methods:A total of 1,640 children/adolescents participated in the 2012 CDC National Youth Fitness Survey. Of the 188 children/adolescents with reported asthma, 92 (48.9%) had a reported asthma attack in the prior year. The influences of having an asthma attack in the prior year on "daily minutes of moderate physical activity (such as sports)" and "daily minutes of walking/biking" were assessed using linear regression.

Results:When controlling for age, race/ethnicity, gender, and annual family income, having an asthma attack in the past year (Beta = -0.54, p = 0.002) was a significant predictor of fewer minutes of moderate physical activity. When controlling for age, race/ethnicity, gender, and poverty level, having an asthma attack in the past year was not a significant predictor of minutes of walking/biking.  Still, only 8.3% of asthmatic children with an attack in the prior year biked/walked 60 minutes on a typical day compared to 30% of asthmatic children with no asthma attack. 

Conclusions: Research on the attitudes of families towards asthma and exercise may increase our understanding of the barriers to physical activity. Interventions developed through such research may promote healthy weight in asthmatic children who have an increased likelihood of obesity in published research.

Learning Areas:

Other professions or practice related to public health
Program planning
Public health or related education
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify potential barriers to participation in physical activity among children with asthma Describe the limited research in the area of asthma severity and exercise types Compare walking and bicycling patterns among asthmatic children who had an asthma attack in the prior year and those who did not have an asthma attack in the prior year Compare engagement in moderate physical activity such as sports among asthmatic children who had an asthma attack in the prior year and those who did not have an asthma attack in the prior year Formulate future studies on identifying the barriers to physical activity participation among children with asthma

Keyword(s): Asthma, Behavioral Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I received a Ph.D. in public health. I have served as the Principal Investigator of 5 studies related to child health. My research over the past 10 years has focused on child health. I have published research findings in different peer-reviewed journals.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 2074.0: Pediatric Obesity: Screening, Prevention, and Treatment Strategies