PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OF 9-12-YEAR-OLD YOUTH IN A COMMUNITY-BASED DIABETES PREVENTION PROGRAM: THE E.P.I.C. KIDS STUDY

摘要

Background. Childhood type II diabetes (T2D) is increasing at an alarming rate in the UnitedudStates due to poor dietary choices, decreased physical activity, and increased obesity rates. It isudcrucial to focus on prevention through emphasizing the importance of healthy lifestyle habits,udespecially in young populations.udMethods. The first cohort of the pilot E.P.I.C. Kids community-based diabetes preventionudprogram included 28 children ages 9-12 with a BMI ≥ 85th percentile for youth. The participantsudwere asked to wear Actigraph GT3X accelerometers for seven consecutive days at each timeudpoint (baseline, 12-week, 24-week). The devices collected activity counts using 30-secondudepochs and the Evenson cut points for children were applied to determine average minutes perudday of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.udResults. Of the beginning 28 participants, complete physical activity data was collected atudbaseline and 12-week time periods for 18. The average physical activity time per day for all 18udparticipants decreased from 26.81 to 25.65 minutes, deeming the results statistically insignificantudwith a p-value of 0.81.udConclusion. The majority of children at-risk of developing T2D do not engage in regularudphysical activity, thus not meeting health-related guidelines, and diabetes prevention programsudsuch as E.P.I.C. Kids may reduce T2D risk.