Physical activity in wheelchair-using youth with spina bifida: an observational study

Table 3 Percentage of time spent in different types of activities on a school day, comparing wheelchair-using youth with SB to typically developing peers

	Youth with SB	Youth who is typically developing	Difference	P ^c
Characteristics
Number of participants	32	20
Age (years) mean (SD)	13.7 (3.2)	13.8 (2.9)	−0.1	0.939
Gender (boys/girls)	20/14	10 / 10		0.580
Weight (kg) mean (SD)	52.8 (18.1)	45.7 (14.3) (n = 10)	7.1	0.258
Height (cm) mean (SD)	159.1 (19.5)	158.5 (14.5) (n = 10)	0.6	0.929
% of time physically active^a	5.0 (3.5; 1.2–12.6)	12.2 (6.1; 6.9–18.3)	−7.2	0.000
Median (IQR; min-max)	5.0 (3.5; 1.2–12.6)	12.2 (6.1; 6.9–18.3)	−7.2	0.000
• Walking	0.0 (0.0; 0.0–6.4)	8.3 (6.2; 4.7–13.6)
• Running	0.0 (0.0; 0.0–0.0)	0.1 (0.2; 0.0–0.8)
• Wheeling	3.7 (2.5; 0.9–6.7)	0.0 (0.0; 0.0–0.0)
• (Hand)biking	0.1 (2.1; 0.0–5.2)	1.2 (3.0; 0.0–8.1)
• non-cycling movement	0.1 (0.2; 0.0–3.3)	2.2 (1.5; 0.5–4.7)
% of time sedentary^b (sitting and lying)	94.3 (4.3; 78.1–98.7)	78.3 (6.3; 71.1–84.3)	16.3	0.000
Median (IQR; min-max)	94.3 (4.3; 78.1–98.7)	78.3 (6.3; 71.1–84.3)	16.3	0.000
% Standing	0.0 (0.7; 0.0–15.9)	8.7 (2.4; 6.3–13.5)	−8.7
Median (IQR)	0.0 (0.7; 0.0–15.9)	8.7 (2.4; 6.3–13.5)	−8.7

SB spina bifida, SD standard deviation, kg kilogram, cm centimeter, IQR Interquartile range, min minimum, max maximum
^aTime spent physically active = total duration of walking, running, wheeling, (hand)biking and non-cyclic moving, as a % of 24 h
^bTime spent sedentary = total duration of sitting and lying, as a % of 24 h
^cDifference in characteristics between participants with SB and typically developing children was tested with a two sample t-test (age, weight, height) and chi-square (gender). Differences in time spent physically active and time spent sedentary were analyzed with regression analyses corrected for age and gender

ISSN: 1743-0003