Perception of built environmental factors and physical activity among adolescents in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Understanding environmental factors related to adolescents' physical activity can inform intervention for obesity control and prevention, but virtually no study has been conducted in the African region, where adolescents' physical inactivity and chronic diseases rates are rising. This study assessed associations between perceived built environmental variables and adolescents' physical activity (active transportation to school and leisure-time moderate-to- vigorous physical activity), and the moderating effects of neighborhood-level income on association between environmental variables and physical activity among Nigerian boys and girls. METHODS: Participants were 1006 adolescents (12-19 years, 50.4% girls) randomly selected from 11 secondary schools in Maiduguri city, Nigeria. Physical activity and perceptions of environmental characteristics were assessed by validated self-report questionnaires. Separate gender-based, hierarchical multiple moderated linear regression analyses were used to examine the direct associations between the environmental perceptions and physical activity variables (active transportation and leisure-time MVPA; dependent variables), as well as the moderating effects of neighborhood-level income. RESULTS: Only in boys were direct associations and interaction effect of neighborhood-level income found. Access to destinations was positively associated with active transportation to school (ß = 0.18; CI = 0.67, 2.24); while residential density (ß = 0.10; CI = 0.01, 1.74) and availability/quality of infrastructures (ß = 0.14; CI = 0.49, 2.68) were positively associated with leisure-time MVPA. Also, neighborhood-level income moderated the association between perceived safety and leisure-time MVPA, with more perceived safety related to less MVPA (ß = -0.16; CI = -0.01, -0.70) in boys living in high SES neighborhood but marginally related to more MVPA (ß = 0.11; CI = -0.04, 2.88, p = 0.06) in boys living in low SES neighborhood. CONCLUSIONS: Few environmental attributes were associated with adolescents' physical activity in Nigeria. Future studies are needed to determine the multidimensional correlates of physical activity that may be relevant for both adolescents' boys and girls in Nigeria.

The Short International Physical Activity Questionnaire: cross-cultural adaptation, validation and reliability of the Hausa language version in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Accurate assessment of physical activity is important in determining the risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, cancer and obesity. The absence of culturally relevant measures in indigenous languages could pose challenges to epidemiological studies on physical activity in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Short International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) to the Hausa language, and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Hausa version of IPAQ-SF in Nigeria. METHODS: The English IPAQ-SF was translated into the Hausa language, synthesized, back translated, and subsequently subjected to expert committee review and pre-testing. The final product (Hausa IPAQ-SF) was tested in a cross-sectional study for concurrent (correlation with the English version) and construct validity, and test-retest reliability in a sample of 102 apparently healthy adults. RESULTS: The Hausa IPAQ-SF has good concurrent validity with Spearman correlation coefficients (ρ) ranging from 0.78 for vigorous activity (Min Week-1) to 0.92 for total physical activity (Metabolic Equivalent of Task [MET]-Min Week-1), but poor construct validity, with cardiorespiratory fitness (ρ = 0.21, p = 0.01) and body mass index (ρ = 0.22, p = 0.04) significantly correlated with only moderate activity and sitting time (Min Week-1), respectively. Reliability was good for vigorous (ICC = 0.73, 95% C.I = 0.55-0.84) and total physical activity (ICC = 0.61, 95% C.I = 0.47-0.72), but fair for moderate activity (ICC = 0.33, 95% C.I = 0.12-0.51), and few meaningful differences were found in the gender and socioeconomic status specific analyses. CONCLUSIONS: The Hausa IPAQ-SF has acceptable concurrent validity and test-retest reliability for vigorous-intensity activity, walking, sitting and total physical activity, but demonstrated only fair construct validity for moderate and sitting activities. The Hausa IPAQ-SF can be used for physical activity measurements in Nigeria, but further construct validity testing with objective measures such as an accelerometer is needed.