Decreased physical activity in Pima Indian compared with Caucasian children

Since reduced physical activity might be a risk factor for body weight gain, we studied the relationship between physical activity and body composition in 43 Pima Indian children (22 male/21 female, mean +/- s.d.: 9.9 +/- 1.1 years) and 42 Caucasian children (21 male/21 female, 9.7 +/- 1.2 years). A list of usual sport leisure activities was established (e.g. bicycling, swimming, basketball) and the subjects were asked how much time they had devoted to each activity over the past week and the last year. Data on time spent playing outside (excluding sport leisure activities for the estimation of physical activity) and watching television/videos were also collected. Pima Indians were taller (143 +/- 9 vs. 137 +/- 8 cm, P < 0.001), heavier (48.6 +/- 15.8 vs. 32.9 +/- 7.8 kg, P < 0.0001) and fatter (39 +/- 16 vs. 24 +/- 7% fat, P < 0.001) than Caucasians. Pima Indian girls showed significantly lower past year and past week sport leisure activity than Caucasian girls (P < 0.01) and spent significantly more time watching television/videos (P < 0.05). Pima boys also showed significantly lower past week sport leisure activity than Caucasian boys (P < 0.05). In Pima Indian boys, past year sport leisure activity correlated negatively (P < 0.05) with body mass index (r = -0.49) and percentage body fat (r = -0.56). However, such correlations were not found in Pima Indian girls, possibly due their very low levels of activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)