Physical Inactivity among Danish and Colombian Adolescents with Lower Level of Family Affluence

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess levels of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours among Danish and Colombian adolescents, and to compare relevant environmental and psychosocial factors associated with physical inactivity (PI) between both student groups. Further, we aimed to compare PI between Danish students born in Denmark and those with immigrant background living in Denmark, but born in another country.

METHODS: The comparative study was performed with 1.374 Danish adolescents (among them 152 born outside the country) who participated in the Danish Youth Cohort and 452 Colombian students who completed the ISCOLE questionnaire, both from the most disadvantaged socioeconomic strata.

RESULTS: The prevalence of physical inactivity (PI) was much higher among Colombian students (74.6%) compared with Danish (25.2%) and with students with a non-Danish background living in Denmark (21.1%). Both groups of Danish adolescents participated more often in organized sports, spent more time on sports after school, were more likely to actively commute to school compared to Colombians and spent less time on screen viewing than Colombians did. In both Columbian and Danish students, low time spent on sports after school, and poorer self-perceived health, were associated with PI. Sedentary behaviours (time in front of screen) were also positively associated with PI.

CONCLUSION: Most Colombian adolescents were not meeting the recommendation of accumulating at least 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA for positive health outcomes as most Danish adolescents did independently of their ethnic background. We assume that the physical and social environment in the neighbourhoods where adolescents live may explain the differences in levels of PA between the countries.