Associations between Physical Activity and Health Parameters in Adolescent Pupils in Egypt

Abstract

Physical activity (PA) could be protective against hypertension, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease. This quantitative study assessed the association between a PA intervention and three anthropometric parameters (weight, body mass index, body fat) and four physiological parameters (cholesterol level, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate) among secondary school pupils (N = 160) in Egypt through the school term. The pupils were randomised to an intervention group (80 pupils) and controls (80 pupils). Measurements were obtained for all pupils twice: at baseline; and then again after three months. The PA intervention programme comprised an ‘afterschool’ one hour of moderate exercise three times a week for three months. Both the controls and the intervention pupils attended the ‘normal’ exercise schedule provided by the school; in addition, the intervention group attended afterschool PA programme from about 2–3 o’clock in the afternoon. At baseline, employing pupil’s BMI, 27.5% and 28.8% of the intervention and control pupils respectively were classified as overweight. After three months, the percentage of overweight decreased to 12.5% in the intervention pupils, while it increased to 37.3% in the controls. At the end of the three months period, there were significant improvements across most anthropometric and physiological parameters of the intervention pupils when compared with the control children. The correlation coefficient of the improvements for the boys and the girls was 0.97, indicating clearly that the intervention was having nearly the same beneficial effect for boys and girls. A moderate PA programme for a modest period of 3 months could be effective in maintaining or enhancing pupil’s anthropometric and physiological parameters in comparison to the controls where there was deterioration in both parameters. Policy makers and secondary schools in Egypt might need to pay more attention to PA programmes conducted on school days, in order to motivate pupils to attend such programmes. There is also an urgent need to look at current PA systems within schools in Egypt in order to assess PA outside school times.

Effects of school‐based interventions for direct delivery of physical activity on fitness and cardiometabolic markers in children and adolescents: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

“…Eleven trials used a cluster design, seven of which were randomized by schools and four randomized by class . Four studies were conducted in the USA , one in Canada , eight in European countries (one each in Denmark , Romania , Germany , UK , Switzerland France and two in Spain, ), one in Egypt , one in China and three in Australia . Duration of interventions varied considerably from 6 weeks to 3 years, demonstrating the need to construct a ‘dose’ measure.…”

“…Most studies provided detailed data on the number of participants randomized but then lost to follow‐up. The extent of loss to follow‐up was low, ranging from 2.5% to 19.0%, with three studies reporting no losses . Only two studies used an intention‐to‐treat analysis approach without exclusion of randomized students who refused to participate or were absent for the baseline measurements, however, the details of such analysis were not adequately described .…”

Prevention of overweight and obesity in children and youth: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Black et al 61 Burgi et al 94 (ow) Caballero et al 33 Crespo et al 86 (1) Crespo et al 86 (2) DeBar et al 105 (ob) Dzewaltowski et al 72 El Ansari et al 62 Foster et al 42 HEALTHY Study Group et al 57 Fung et al 93…”

“…,29,33,38,42,45,46,48,57,58,61,62,69,71,72,75,78,81,[85][86][87][91][92][93][94][95]102,105,115,116 Intervention participants were more likely to show a reduction in prevalence and less risk of being overweight or obese compared with control participants: 39.8% of participants were overweight or obese at preintervention to 35.3% of participants at postintervention compared with 33.4% overweight or obese at baseline to 31.5% at postassessment (ratio of RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89 to 0.99, I…”

Symptoms and Health Complaints and Their Association with Perceived Stress at University: Survey of Students at Eleven Faculties in Egypt

“…BMI (measured): was calculated from measured weight and height using the same Metric BMI Formula and cut-off levels as with the reported BMI. Measurements were undertaken using (Seca Digital Weight & Height Scale), with height measured to the nearest 0.1 cm (barefooted), and body weight measured to the nearest 0.1 kg (light clothing and no footwear) (29).…”