Effects of a school based health promotion intervention on physical activity and physical fitness in Ecuadorian adolescents: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Abstract:

Background: We assessed if a school-based intervention improved physical activity, fitness and sedentary behavior among Ecuadorian adolescents. Methods: The ACTIVITAL program promoted physical activity and the reduction of sedentary behavior (mainly screen time) through 15 school classes and awareness raising activities (e;g. walking trail ) in 11 to 15 years old adolescents. Ten schools were randomly allocated to the intervention and ten schools were pair matched as controls. Fitness measures (EUROFIT battery) and self-reported sedentary behavior were collected at baseline and after 28 months. Accelerometer data were collected during five weekdays in a random subsample (n=224). The differences between intervention and control group were analyzed using mixed models considering the pair-matched design. We present tentative findings of the primary outcome measures. Results: After the intervention adolescents (n=1440) from the intervention group had less decrease in accelerometer counts (P=0.32, β=14695.9), time spent in light (P=0.46, β=1.2) and moderate to vigorous activities (P=0.17, β=9.7) and a less increases of time spent in sedentary activities (P=0.04, β=-43.8) per day than control group. In addition, they showed an improvement in shuttle-short run (P=0.03, β=-0.8), plate tapping (P=0.10, β=-0.70), sit-and-reach (P=0.37, β=0.1), sit-ups (P=0.35, β=0.1), vertical jump (P=0.01, β=2.4), bent-arm-hang (P=0.12, β=0.9) and handgrip (P=0.22, β=0.4) tests. The screen time increased in both the intervention and control group (P=0.45, β=0.07) Conclusions: A school-based intervention can moderately improve physical …

Año de publicación:

2013

Keywords:

Fuente:

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