Patterns of physical activity among Russian youth - The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey

Background: This paper describes physical activity the patterns of 2,101 Ru ssian youth enrolled in the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS). The RLMS is a nationally representative household sample survey. Methods: Y outh 14-18 years and parents of youth 6-13 years responded to survey questi ons about hours per week of light (cooking and laundry), moderate (walking, bicycling and sports), and vigorous physical activities (karate, wrestling and gymnastics). Sedentary activities (e.g, watching TV, music, homework) were categorized separately. Subjects were categorized for analyses by sex (boys n=1,072 and girls n=1,029) and age was grouped by school year: 6-11 y ears (elementary school), 12-16 years (high school), and 17-18 years. Mean hours per week by age and sex were computed for time spent in sedentary (le ss than or equal to 1 MET), light (1.1-2.9 METs), moderate (3-6 METs), and vigorous (greater than or equal to 6 METs) activities. The proportion of yo uth meeting international PA Guidelines 1 (any Intensity physical activity greater than or equal to 30 min/day, greater than or equal to 5 days per we ek) and 2 (moderate to vigorous physical activity for three sessions per we ek) was computed for each group. Results: Russian boys and girls spent appr oximately 28 h/week in sedentary activities. Boys spent more time than girl s in moderate (5.2 versus 4.1 h/week) and vigorous (2.5 versus 1.8 h/week) intensity activities; girls spent more time in household activities. Nearly 70% of Russian youth met Guideline 1, and fewer than 45% met Guideline 2. Conclusions: The results suggest that most Russian youth enrolled in the RL MS obtain sufficient amounts of any level of physical activity per week, bu t that efforts may be needed to promote more regular moderate to vigorous p hysical activity.