Sociodemographic and Environmental Determinants of Indoor Versus Outdoor Active Play Among Children Living in the Washington, DC Area.

BACKGROUND: Sociodemographic and environmental factors play important roles in determining both indoor and outdoor play activities in children. METHODS: The Built Environment and Active Play Study assessed neighborhood playability for children (7-12 y), based on parental report of their children's active play behaviors, neighborhood characteristics, and geographic locations. Simple logistic regression modeling tested the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and the frequency of and access to venues for indoor and outdoor play. RESULTS: Children of higher socioeconomic status were almost 3 times more likely to live more than a 30-minute walk from indoor recreational facilities compared with their less affluent peers (odds ratio [OR] = 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-6.8). Non-Hispanic black children were less likely to live more than 30 minutes from indoor facilities (OR = 0.21; 95% CI, 0.08-0.57) and more were likely to engage in indoor activity (OR = 3.40; 95% CI, 1.17-9.88) than were white children. Boys were substantially more likely to play outdoors at a playing fields compared with girls (OR = 5.37; 95% CI, 2.10-13.69). CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study could be used to enhance indoor and outdoor activity spaces for children and to reduce disparities in access to such spaces.

Preschool Daily Patterns of Physical Activity Driven by Location and Social Context.

BACKGROUND: Preschool children are recommended to spend at least 15 minutes/hour (25% time) in light-to-vigorous physical activity (total physical activity, TPA). Preschool provider practices, such as whether children are put in small group or whole-group activities, are likely to affect children's TPA levels during preschool. The current study characterized the pattern of physical activity across the preschool day, and examined the relationship of location and social arrangement to TPA. METHODS: Fifteen days from 8 preschool classrooms in 2 preschool centers were video-recorded, and children (N = 73, age = 3-6 years, M = 4.36 ± 0.85, Boys = 47%) wore accelerometers for the duration of the preschool day. We observed contextual variables of time (ie, morning or afternoon), location (ie, indoor or outdoor), and for a subsample, social arrangement (ie, activity centers, small group, whole group). RESULTS: Across the whole day, children spent 69.5 ± 12.4% time sedentary/inactive and 30.5 ± 13.5% time in TPA. Children spent a significantly greater percentage of time in TPA outdoors, compared to indoors (t = 10.00, p < .001), and while in small groups compared to whole groups (t = 3.35, p = .009). CONCLUSION: Children spent approximately 30% of the preschool day in TPA. Providing more time outdoors and restructuring preschool activities from whole group to small group could increase the amount of TPA that children accumulate during preschool.

Indoor physical activity reduces all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality among elderly women.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate whether a medium to high degree of total physical activity and indoor physical activity were associated with reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among elderly Korean women. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was done to evaluate the association between physical activity and mortality. The cohort was made up of elderly (≥ 65 years of age) subjects. Baseline information was collected with a self-administered questionnaire and linked to death certificates retrieved from a database. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) levels. RESULTS: Women who did not suffer from stroke, cancer, or ischemic heart disease were followed for a median of 8 years (n=5079). A total of 1798 all-cause deaths were recorded, of which 607 (33.8%) were due to cardiovascular disease. The group with the highest level of total physical activity and indoor physical activity was significantly associated to a reduced all-cause mortality (HR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.71 and HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.50 to 0.67, respectively) compared to the group with the lowest level of total physical activity and indoor physical activity. Additionally, the group with the highest level of total physical activity and indoor physical activity was significantly associated to a lower cardiovascular disease mortality (HR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.71 and HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.67, respectively) compared to the group with the lowest level of total physical activity and indoor physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that regular indoor physical activity among elderly Korean women has healthy benefits.