Educational differences in estimated and measured physical fitness.

BACKGROUND: Available information about the association between education and physical fitness (PF) is scarce. The purpose of this study was to examine educational differences in PF in the working age population using different methods to assess PF. METHODS: The Health 2000 Survey was carried out for adults aged ≥ 30 years (n = 8028) in Finland. For this study, 30-54-year-old men and women with data on PF and physical activity (PA) were selected (n = 3724). PF was assessed by self-estimated overall physical fitness and running ability, a physician's estimation of a participant's working capacity, the trunk extensors' endurance and hand grip strength tests. The highest educational qualification taken by the participant was used as a measure of education. The analyses were adjusted for age, PA, BMI, smoking and chronic diseases. RESULTS: PF was best in the high-educated men and women. The educational differences were minor in self-estimated overall PF. Adjusting for the covariates, the differences in self-estimated running ability and working capacity decreased. The educational differences in the trunk extensors' endurance test were independent of covariates. PA and other health behaviours contributed most to the differences. CONCLUSION: People with high education had better PF irrespective of the method used to assess PF. A large amount of the educational differences could be explained by PA and other health behaviours. More research is needed to understand the determinants of educational differences in PF.

Leisure time physical activity in a 22-year follow-up among Finnish adults.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore long-term predictors of leisure time physical activity in the general population. METHODS: This study comprised 718 men and women who participated in the national Mini-Finland Health Survey from 1978-1980 and were re-examined in 2001. Participants were aged 30-80 at baseline. Measurements included interviews, health examinations, and self-administered questionnaires, with information on socioeconomic position, occupational and leisure time physical activity, physical fitness, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical functional capacity. Analyses included persons who were working and had no limitations in functional capacity at baseline. RESULTS: The strongest predictor of being physically active at the follow-up was participation in physical activity at baseline, with an OR 13.82 (95%CI 5.50-34.70) for 3 or more types of regular activity, OR 2.33 (95%CI 1.22-4.47) for 1-2 types of regular activity, and OR 3.26 (95%CI 2.07-5.15) for irregular activity, as compared to no activity. Other determinants for being physically active were moving upwards in occupational status, a high level of baseline occupational physical activity and remaining healthy weight during the follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: To prevent physical inactivity among older adults, it is important to promote physical activity already in young adulthood and in middle age and to emphasize the importance of participating in many types of physical activity.

Health behaviours as mediating pathways between socioeconomic position and body mass index.

BACKGROUND: Low socioeconomic position is widely reported to associate with high body mass index (BMI). We, however, lack scientific evidence if health behaviours mediate the association between socioeconomic position and BMI. PURPOSE: The aims of the study were to explore associations of education and income with BMI and to study the mediating pathways through health behaviours. METHOD: Study population comprised 3,995 Finnish men and women aged 25 to 64 years who participated in a cross-sectional, population-based FINRISK 2002 Study. Participants' height and weight were measured to calculate BMI. Self-administered questionnaire assessed education, household income, leisure time physical activity, sitting behaviour, dietary habits, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Structural equation modelling with latent variables was applied to estimate age-adjusted direct and indirect associations between variables. RESULTS: Most health behaviours mediated the association between socioeconomic position and BMI. Strongest and most consistent mediators were diet and sitting in men and women, as well as leisure time physical activity in women. Health behaviours clustered strongly with each other. CONCLUSIONS: The strongest indirect associations between socioeconomic position and BMI were mediated through variables related to energy balance, i.e. diet and sedentariness. To reduce the socioeconomic variation in overweight and obesity, the main focus should be on food and sedentary behaviours while also taking into account the gender differences and clustering of unhealthy behaviours.

The effects of adolescence sports and exercise on adulthood leisure-time physical activity in educational groups.

BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity has become a major public health problem and clear educational differences in physical activity have been reported across Europe and USA. The origins of adulthood physical activity are suggested to be in childhood and adolescence physical activity. Hardly any studies have, however, examined if the educational differences in physical activity might also be due to educational differences in early experiences in physical activity. Thus, our aim was to examine how competitive sports in youth, and exercise in late adolescence, and opinions on physical education (PE) in childhood determined adulthood leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in different educational groups. METHODS: We used cross-sectional population-based National FINRISK 2002 data for 1918 men and 2490 women aged 25 to 64 years. Competitive sports in youth, exercise in late adolescence, and opinions on PE in childhood were assessed retrospectively via self-reports. Adulthood LTPA was collected with 12-month recall. In 2008, we calculated structural equation models including latent variables among the low- (<12 years) and high- (>/=12 years) educated. RESULTS: Men more often than women reported that their experience of PE was interesting and pleasant as well as having learned useful skills during PE classes. Men, compared to women, had also been more active in the three selected competitive sports in youth and exercised in late adolescence. Participation in competitive sports in youth among the low-educated and exercise in late adolescence among the high-educated had a direct effect on adulthood LTPA. Among the low-educated, opinions on PE in childhood had an indirect effect on adulthood LTPA through participation in competitive sports in youth whereas among the high-educated, the indirect effect went through exercise in late adolescence. The effects were mainly similar between genders. CONCLUSIONS: Our study answers to a strong need to assess the determinants of leisure-time physical activity to promote physical activity in low-educated individuals. The pathways of physical activity from childhood to adulthood LTPA may be different depending on the pursued educational career. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm our results.