604 - Child and Familial Factors Associated With Physical Activity Guidance Compliance Among Children with Specific Functional Impairments

Poster Number: 604
Publication Number: 604.404

Maya Muenzer, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, pittsburgh, PA, United States; Amy Houtrow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Background: While physical activity is important for growth, development, and general health in all children, those with disabilities have limited physical activity opportunities. New research has identified challenges with physical activity during the pandemic, but no studies assess the impact of the pandemic on physical activity among children with specific functional impairments (CWI).

Objective: To investigate environmental, familial, and personal factors associated with differences between CWI who do and do not meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity and to determine if physical activity changed during the COVID-19 pandemic for CWI.

Design/Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using the National Survey of Children’s Health 2016-2020 datasets of CWI (children who had difficulty in the last 12 months with breathing, physical pain, swallowing, stomach issues, deafness, or blindness, Nf15,098) in accordance with the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. The National Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that children have 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. Children were identified as meeting the guidelines if they reported being physically active daily. Weighted prevalence estimates and chi-square analysis were conducted; multivariable regression models were constructed with variables shown to have an impact on participation as covariates.

Results: Overall, only 17.1% of CWI met the national physical activity guidelines. Among CWI, lower odds of having met the guidelines were noted for adolescents (aOR=0.55, 95%CI [0.44, 0.68]) compared to children aged 6-11 year old, girls (aOR=0.61, 95%CI [0.50, 0.76]), children in households with higher education levels (aOR=0.64, 95%CI [0.50, 0.82]), children who had difficulty making friends (aOR 0.65, 95%CI [0.51, 0.83]), and children in good/fair/poor compared to very good/excellent general health (aOR 0.77, 95%CI [0.61, 0.97]). Survey year 2020 was not a significant predictor of meeting the guidelines for CWI (aOR=0.79, 95%CI [0.59, 1.06]).Conclusion(s): Less than a fifth of CWI met physical activity guidelines with no independent effect of the pandemic noted. Both child and family-level factors were associated with meeting the national physical activity guidelines. Clinicians should be aware of these factors to target their recommendations to encourage CWI to engage in more physical activity.
Maya Muenzer CV 2022Jan 2022 MS3 CV Updated.pdf