Paper
Saturday, November 3, 2007
69
The Factors Influence Physical Activity Levels in Children with Asthma
Li-Chi Chiang, PhD, School of Nursing, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan and Jing-Long Huang, MD, Department of Pediatric, Chung-Guang Memory Hostipal, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
| Learning Objective #1: understand the important of physical activity of children with asthma |
| Learning Objective #2: realize the major factors that influencing the physical activity of children with asthma |
Objectives: The purposes of this study were to assess the amount of physical activity for children with asthma participate in and to explore the factors which influence their physical activity.
Methods: A total of 152 children with asthma ranging in age from 8 to 11 years were enrolled in this study. The amount of physical activity for each child was gathered from self-reported 3-day physical activity logs (3d-PAL). The ten factors about personal, disease-related, psychological and environmental which influencing physical activity was gathered from a questionnaire completed by children and from parent interviews.
Results: Only 32.9% of children with asthma took part in 20 minutes or more of vigorous physical activity (VPA) more than three times per week, much less than the 85% participation rate advised by the Healthy People 2010 Objectives. Access to exercise facilities, exercise-induced attack (EIA), and gender were predictors of moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (p<0.001). Children with more access to exercise facilities (p<0.01) and fewer episodes of EIA (p<0.01) were more likely to engage in MVPA; furthermore, boys with asthma participated more in MVPA than girls (p<0.01). Access to team sports was the determinant of VPA (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Inactive children with asthma need appropriate exercise prescriptions to increase physical activity. Pediatric practitioners can enhance physical activity by advising parents to improve access for their children to exercise facilities, prescribing appropriate treatment for EIA, and encouraging girls with asthma to be active.