Effect of socio-economic status on objectively measured physical activity

Louise A Kelly ¹, John J Reilly ^1*, Abigail Fisher ¹, Colette Montgomery ¹, Avril Williamson ², John H McColl ¹, James Y Paton ¹ and Stanley Grant ¹

¹ University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
² Glasgow City Council Education Department, United Kingdom

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jjr2y{at}clinmed.gla.ac.uk.

Accepted 11 October 2005

Abstract

Background:A socio-economic gradient in childhood obesity is known to be present by the age of school entry in the UK. The origin of this gradient is unclear at present, but must lie in socio-economic differences in habitual physical activity, sedentary behaviour, or dietary intake.

Aims:To test the hypothesis that habitual physical activity and/or sedentary behaviour are associated with socio-economic status (SES) in young Scottish children.

Methods:Observational study of 339 children (mean age 4.2 years, SD 0.3) in which habitual physical activity and sedentary behaviour were measured by accelerometry over 6 days (study 1). In a second study we recruited 39 pairs of children of distinctly different SES (mean age 5.6 years, SD 0.3) and tested for differences in habitual physical activity and sedentary behaviour by accelerometry over 7 days.

Results:In study 1, SES was not a significant factor in explaining the amount of time spent in physical activity or sedentary behaviour once gender and month of measurement were taken into account. In study 2, we found no significant differences in time spent in physical activity or sedentary behaviour between affluent and deprived groups.

Conclusion:The present studies do not support the hypothesis that low SES in young Scottish children is associated with lower habitual physical activity or higher engagement in sedentary behaviour.

Keywords: energy metabolism, obesity, social inequalities, sedentary behaviour

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