Levels of Physical Activity in Lithuanian Adolescents

Population levels of physical activity are an international concern. The purpose of the present study was to describe and analyse physical activity levels in Lithuanian adolescents.

With this aim in mind, the Physician-based Assessment and Counselling for Exercise (PACE) questionnaire was administered to 5141 adolescents residing in Lithuania, 2502 boys (48.7%) and 2639 girls (51.3%), aged between 11 and 19 years.

It was found that adolescents studied met the physical activity guideline, of 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a day, on average 3.6 days/week (SD = 2.1). A total of 3426 adolescents (66.6%) were inactive as classified by the PACE questionnaire (at least 1 h of physical activity/day < 5 days/week). In the present sample there were more active (at least 1 h of physical activity/day ≥ 5 days/week) boys (n = 994, 39.7%) than girls (n = 721, 27.3%) (p < 0.001; OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.56 to 1.97), and, on average, boys were more likely to meet daily recommendations of physical activity than girls, 0.7 days more a week (p < 0.001; IRRs 1.21, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.25). According to age, younger adolescents (11⁻12 years) were significantly more active than older adolescents (13⁻19 years) and a curvilinear relationship between age and physical activity was observed with significant linear (unstandardized beta (B) = -0.807; standardized beta (β) = -0.796; p < 0.001) and quadratic terms (unstandardized beta (B) = 0.024; standardized beta (β) = 0.704; p < 0.001).

It is necessary to increase the level of physical activity in Lithuanian adolescents and intervention programs should be carried out considering these results.