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Table 2 Body composition and physical activity according to ethnicity

From: Associations of extracurricular physical activity patterns and body composition components in a multi-ethnic population of UK children (the Size and Lung Function in Children study): a multilevel modelling analysis

Variable

Ethnicity, n (%)

Chi2-test

Black

South Asian

White/Other

Pearson-χ2; p-value

Age- and sex-adjusted BMI z-score

  < 5th percentile, ‘underweight’

9 (1.8)

46 (8.9)

20 (2.3)

88.8; <.001***

 5th–85th percentile, ‘normal weight’

275 (56.1)

353 (68.5)

599 (67.8)

 85th–95th percentile, ‘overweight’

71 (14.5)

46 (8.9)

117 (13.2)

  > 95th percentile, ‘obese’

135 (27.6)

70 (13.6)

148 (16.7)

ln(FMI) z-score

  < 5th percentile

23 (4.7)

8 (1.5)

25 (2.8)

39.7: <.001***

 5th–85th percentile

359 (73.3)

435 (84.5)

752 (85.1)

 85th–95th percentile

63 (12.8)

37 (7.2)

72 (8.1)

  > 95th percentile

45 (9.2)

35 (6.8)

35 (4.0)

FFMI z-score

  < 5th percentile

7 (1.4)

46 (8.9)

8 (0.9)

163.6; <.001***

 5th–85th percentile

365 (74.5)

448 (87.0)

751 (85.9)

 85th–95th percentile

62 (12.7)

15 (2.9)

90 (10.2)

  > 95th percentile

56 (11.4)

6 (1.2)

35 (4.0)

General Sports Frequency

 Never

5 (1.0)

4 (0.8)

17 (1.9)

19.5; .013*

 Less than weekly

21 (4.3)

21 (4.1)

31 (3.5)

 Weekly

112 (22.9)

118 (22.9)

246 (27.8)

 Most days

126 (25.7)

116 (22.5)

239 (27.0)

 Daily

226 (46.1)

256 (49.7)

351 (39.7)

Dominant mode of commuting

 Active

204 (41.6)

249 (48.3)

430 (48.6)

10.4; .108

 Passive

158 (32.3)

159 (30.9)

281 (31.8)

 Mixed

3 (0.6)

2 (0.4)

4 (0.5)

 Disagreement child-parent

125 (25.5)

105 (20.4)

169 (19.1)

  1. BMI Body Mass Index, FMI Fat Mass Index, FFMI Fat-Free Mass Index
  2. *: p < .05; **: p < .01; ***: p < .001
  3. Significant associations (p < .05) on the first level of the multilevel model are in bold