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Previous Volume 347:709-715 September 5, 2002 Number 10 Next

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ABSTRACT

Background Physical activity declines during adolescence, but the underlying reasons remain unknown.

Methods We prospectively followed 1213 black girls and 1166 white girls enrolled in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study from the ages of 9 or 10 to the ages of 18 or 19 years. We used a validated questionnaire to measure leisure-time physical activity on the basis of metabolic equivalents (MET) for reported activities and their frequency in MET-times per week; a higher score indicated greater activity.

Results The respective median activity scores for black girls and white girls were 27.3 and 30.8 MET-times per week at base line and declined to 0 and 11.0 by year 10 of the study (a 100 percent decline for black girls and a 64 percent decline for white girls, P<0.001). By the age of 16 or 17 years, 56 percent of the black girls and 31 percent of the white girls reported no habitual leisure-time activity. Lower levels of parental education were associated with greater decline in activity for white girls at both younger ages (P<0.001) and older ages (P=0.005); for black girls, this association was seen only at the older ages (P=0.04). Pregnancy was associated with decline in activity among black girls (P<0.001) but not among white girls, whereas cigarette smoking was associated with decline in activity among white girls (P<0.001). A higher body-mass index was associated with greater decline in activity among girls of both races (P0.05).

Conclusions Substantial declines in physical activity occur during adolescence in girls and are greater in black girls than in white girls. Some determinants of this decline, such as higher body-mass index, pregnancy, and smoking, may be modifiable.

Source Information

From the Department of Family Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (S.Y.S.K., N.W.G.); the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, Pittsburgh (A.M.K.); Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore (B.A.B., S.S.K.); Division of Cardiology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati (S.R.D.); the University of California, Berkeley (P.B.C., Z.I.S.); and the Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago (K.L.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Kimm at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, 3518 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15261, or at kimm{at}pitt.edu.

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