Participation in organised sports counteracts the age-related physical activity decline in the young
Abstract Overview
Background:
Maintaining physical activity (PA) throughout the lifespan is crucial for overall health.
Purpose:
This study aimed to identify if organised sports (OS) can mitigate the age-related decline in PA among children and adolescents during five years of follow-up.
Methods:
The Swiss population-based SOPHYA cohort included participants aged 6-16 years at SOPHYA1 (2014) with complete accelerometer data from baseline and follow-up (SOPHYA2, 2019). Information on sex, age, BMI, and sociodemographic factors were collected by self-report. Participation in OS was calculated by linkage with the Youth and Sports (Y+S) database as the number of days participating in OS during the follow-up period. Participants were categorised as improvers or worseners based on counts per minute (CPM) and minutes in moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA). Participants who maintained or increased their PA in the respective domain were considered improvers. A generalised linear model examined the relationship between OS participation, baseline characteristics, and the probability of becoming a PA improver.
Results:
The analysis included 432 participants. There was a strong decline in CPM and MVPA from 2014 to 2019. The prevalence of improvers was 22.5% for CPM and 9.5% for MVPA. Participation in OS between 2014 and 2019 was positively associated with CPM and MVPA improvement. For 30 additional days of participation in OS, the log odds of being an improver vs. being a worsener increased by about 3.9% for CPM (p=0.04) and by about 6.1% for MVPA (p=0.03).
Conclusions:
As organised in the Swiss national Y+S program, OS partially counteracts age-related PA decline from childhood to young adulthood.
Practical implications:
This finding underscores the relevance of population-level OS promotion with specific attention to girls and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds who are at a higher risk of PA decline.
Funding:
Swiss Federal Office of Sport, Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Health Promotion Switzerland.
Additional Authors
Name: Gianfranco Lovison
Affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Ayoung Jeong
Affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Emmanuel Schaffner
Affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Emil Nijhuis
Affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Fabian Studer
Affiliation: Swiss Federal Institute of Sport SFISM, Magglingen, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Wolfgang Taube
Affiliation: Movement and Sports Science, Department of Neurosciences and Movement Sciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Bengt Kayser
Affiliation: Institute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Suzanne L. Suggs
Affiliation: Institute for Public Health and Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Bettina Bringolf-Isler
Affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Name: Nicole Probst-Hensch
Affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
Presenting Author: no
Information
Study Type: Epidemiology
Subtheme: Other (please specify)
Subtheme other Title: Longitudinal development of physical activity
Population Group: Children, Adolescents
Setting: Sport
Submitting Author
Johanna Haenggi
Scientific collaborator
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
Switzerland
