Department of Public Health, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur J Public Health. 2013 Jun;23(3):440-6. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cks088. Epub 2012 Jul 18.
Variations between countries in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) can be used to test the convergence thesis, which expects that ethnic minority groups change towards the LTPA levels of the native population of host countries. The aim of this study was to test whether similar differences in LTPA between the native populations of England and the Netherlands are also observed among the Indian and African descent groups living in these countries.
We used English and Dutch population-based health surveys that included participants aged 35-60 years of European (n(english) = 14,723, n(dutch) = 567), Indian (n(english) = 1264, n(dutch) = 370) and African-Caribbean (n(english) = 1112, n(dutch) = 689) descent. Levels of LTPA (30-minute walking, any reported cycling, gardening, dancing and playing sports) were estimated with age-sex-standardized prevalence rates. Comparisons among groups were made using adjusted Prevalence Ratios (PRs).
Within both countries and compared with the European group, Indian and African groups had lower levels of gardening and cycling, whereas the African groups had higher levels of dancing. Between countries, among the European groups, the Netherlands showed higher prevalence of cycling than England, PR = 2.26 (95% CI: 2.06-2.48), and this was 2.85 (1.94-4.19) among Indian descent, and 2.77 (2.05-3.73) among African descent. For playing sports, this was PR = 1.30 (1.23-1.38), 1.43 (1.24-1.66) and 1.22 (1.10-1.34), whereas for gardening this was PR = 0.71 (0.65-0.78), 0.65 (0.52-0.81) and 0.75 (0.62-0.90), respectively. Walking and dancing showed inconsistent differences between the countries and ethnic groups.
This cross-national comparison supports the expectation that LTPA of Indian and African descent groups converge towards the national levels of England and the Netherlands respectively.
不同国家之间休闲时间体力活动（LTPA）的差异可用于检验趋同理论，该理论预计少数民族群体的 LTPA 水平将向所在国的本土人口趋同。本研究的目的是检验在英国和荷兰，其本土人群之间存在的类似 LTPA 差异是否也存在于生活在这些国家的印度和非洲裔群体中。
我们使用了基于人群的英国和荷兰健康调查，这些调查包括 35-60 岁的欧洲人（n(english) = 14723，n(dutch) = 567）、印度裔（n(english) = 1264，n(dutch) = 370）和非裔加勒比裔（n(english) = 1112，n(dutch) = 689）。LTPA（30 分钟步行、任何报告的骑自行车、园艺、跳舞和运动）的水平通过年龄性别标准化患病率来估计。使用调整后的患病率比（PR）比较组间差异。
在两国中，与欧洲群体相比，印度裔和非洲裔群体园艺和骑自行车的水平较低，而非洲裔群体跳舞的水平较高。在两国之间，在欧洲群体中，荷兰的自行车骑行率高于英国，PR = 2.26（95%CI：2.06-2.48），而印度裔的这一比例为 2.85（1.94-4.19），非洲裔的这一比例为 2.77（2.05-3.73）。对于运动，PR = 1.30（1.23-1.38）、1.43（1.24-1.66）和 1.22（1.10-1.34），而对于园艺，PR = 0.71（0.65-0.78）、0.65（0.52-0.81）和 0.75（0.62-0.90）。步行和跳舞在两国和不同种族群体之间的差异不一致。
这项跨国比较支持这样一种预期，即印度和非洲裔群体的 LTPA 将分别向英国和荷兰的国家水平趋同。
