An assessment of physical activity levels in South Asians in the UK: Findings from the Health Survey for England - Archive ouverte HAL Access content directly
Journal Articles Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health Year : 2010

An assessment of physical activity levels in South Asians in the UK: Findings from the Health Survey for England

Emmanuel Stamatakis
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 869561
Tarani Chandola
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 871160
Mark Hamer
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 869564

Abstract

Background: South Asians in Britain experience high rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) compared with other ethnic groups. Behavioural risk factors, such as physical inactivity, have been explored as possible explanations for this trend. However, there have been few comprehensive accounts describing physical activity levels of this ethnic group. Methods: Data from the Health Survey for England (1999-2004) on 5421 South Asians and 8974 whites aged 18-55 were used to compare physical activity levels. Analyses of covariance tested the association between ethnicity and self-reported total physical activity metabolic equivalents of task (MET) scores, adjusting for age, sex, self-reported health, adiposity, and socioeconomic status. Results: Total MET-minutes/week were consistently lower in UK South Asians compared with whites (973 compared with 1465 MET-minutes, p < .001). This ethnic group difference was consistent across sexes, age- and sub-groups, and was independent of covariates. South Asians born in the UK reported higher levels of physical activity than those South Asians born elsewhere (p < .001). Variables such as urbanisation and psychological distress were associated with physical activity; however, despite their inclusion in the models, ethnic group differences remained, indicating that physical inactivity in South Asians was not attributable to area or individual sociodemographic factors. Conclusions: Physical activity levels are very low in UK South Asians; this is consistent across all examined population subsets. Physical inactivity is likely to contribute to their high risk of CHD. Increasing physical activity in all UK South Asians should be a public health priority for health professionals.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
PEER_stage2_10.1136%2Fjech.2009.102509.pdf (71.48 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origin : Files produced by the author(s)
Loading...

Dates and versions

hal-00591158 , version 1 (07-05-2011)

Identifiers

Cite

Emily D Williams, Emmanuel Stamatakis, Tarani Chandola, Mark Hamer. An assessment of physical activity levels in South Asians in the UK: Findings from the Health Survey for England. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2010, 65 (6), pp.517. ⟨10.1136/jech.2009.102509⟩. ⟨hal-00591158⟩

Collections

PEER
151 View
764 Download

Altmetric

Share

Gmail Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More