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Introduction: Self rated health, in adult population, is strongly associated with mortality and life expectancy. In younger people this association is less evident, but it may anticipate a similar risk in adult life. Our research, based on the HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children) International collaboration, contributes to deepen the knowledge in this field by monitoring adolescents' health through a multinational survey involving 29 European countries, plus North America (Canada and USA) and Israel. Methods: Following an established methodology, the HBSC survey has elaborated a questionnaire on health and health behaviour, filled in by a representative national sample of 11-, 13-and 15-year-old boys and girls. The sample is constituted of more than 160,000 subjects interviewed during the 2001/2002 survey. Reported symptoms and self-rated health have been analysed by sex and age and through the different countries. Results: Girls resulted to have a poorer perception of their health, with respect to males, at all ages and in all countries (Overall OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.66-1.76). Age increases this risk both for males and females, with an average increase of 32% (95% CI: 29-34%) per year in the age-range 11-15. The situation is similar for reported symptoms, with an overall OR of 1.81 (95% CI: 1.77-1.85) for females of reporting three or more symptoms at least once a week; also this risk increases of 26% (95% CI: 24-27%) per year during the pre-adolescence phase. In both cases it could be shown a significant interaction effect between age and gender: OR = 1.19 (CI: 1.15-1.23) for perceived health and OR = 1.26 (CI: 1.23-1.29) for reported symptoms in females with respect to males. Conclusions: Even if adolescence is described as the healthiest period of life, a consistent minority of young people perceive and report a poor health and a high number of symptoms. Females are constantly in a worse position than males and older age groups are worse than younger ones.

Purpose This study examined the relationship between age and gender with physical activity (PA) and how meeting of PA guidelines (PAGL) is related to socio-economic-status. Methods Data were collected from 11-, 13-, and 15-y.o. students in 32 countries participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey 2001/2002. A self-completed questionnaire assessed moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for the past seven days and MVPA for a typical week. Socio-economic status (SES) was assessed using the Family Affluence Scale (FAS). Results None of the countries averaged enough MVPA to meet PAGL. The pattern of MVPA across gender and age was consistent among all countries. In all countries girls were significantly less active than boys (mean hours/week of MVPA 3.52 ±1.88 vs 4.13 ±1.95) and were more likely to not meet the PAGL; older children were less active when compared to the youngest. SES was significantly associated with the amount of reported MVPA. SES and PAGL were significantly related in seven countries and a significant decrease in the influence of age was observed in these countries compared to other countries. Conclusions Levels of MVPA during adolescence showed consistent patterns across countries in relation to age, gender and social-class. The limited effect of age on PA in countries where the influence of social class was less strong, suggesting the possibility of a moderating effect of context in the development of habits acquired in childhood

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