澳大利亚丛林大火对儿童身体活动的影响。

The effects of the Australian bushfires on physical activity in children.

机构信息

Motivation and Behaviour Research Program, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, New South Wales, Australia.

Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, New South Wales, Australia.

出版信息

Environ Int. 2021 Jan;146:106214. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106214. Epub 2020 Nov 4.

DOI:10.1016/j.envint.2020.106214

PMID:33157378

Abstract

OBJECTIVES

To determine the impact of bushfires on children's physical activity.

DESIGN

Natural experiment comparing device-measured physical activity and air quality index data for schools exposed and not exposed to the Australian bushfires.

METHODS

Participants were drawn from 22 schools participating in a cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based physical activity intervention that coincided with the 2019 Australian bushfires. Students in Years 3 and 4 (8-10 years old) provided data. We used propensity score matching to match 245 exposed and 344 control participants.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity.

RESULTS

The bushfires had minimal effect on children's average weekly physical activity. Analysis of acute effects showed children maintained their levels of physical activity up to an estimated turning point of air quality index of 737.08 (95% CI = 638.63, 835.53), beyond which daily physical activity levels dropped sharply. Similar results were found for girls and boys and for children from low-to-average and higher socio-economic backgrounds.

CONCLUSIONS

Children's physical activity was not strongly influenced by the presence of smoke and targeted public health advice during the bushfires might not have had the intended effect of reducing children's outdoor physical activity. Only when air quality deteriorated to approximately 3.5 times the Air Quality index threshold (>200) deemed 'hazardous' by the Australian Department of Health did children's physical activity decline. Public health agencies should re-evaluate the effectiveness of health messages during bushfires and develop strategies to mitigate risks to children's health.

摘要

目的

确定丛林大火对儿童身体活动的影响。

设计

比较暴露于和未暴露于澳大利亚丛林大火的学校的设备测量身体活动和空气质量指数数据的自然实验。

方法

参与者来自于 22 所参与基于学校的身体活动干预的集群随机对照试验的学校，该试验恰逢 2019 年澳大利亚丛林大火。参与的学生是 3 年级和 4 年级（8-10 岁）。我们使用倾向评分匹配来匹配 245 名暴露组和 344 名对照组参与者。

主要结果指标

中等强度和剧烈身体活动的分钟数。

结果

丛林大火对儿童的平均每周身体活动量影响不大。急性影响分析表明，儿童的身体活动水平在空气质量指数估计转折点 737.08（95%CI=638.63,835.53）之前保持不变，超过这个转折点，日常身体活动水平急剧下降。在女孩和男孩以及社会经济背景较低至中等和较高的儿童中，都发现了类似的结果。

结论

儿童的身体活动并没有受到烟雾的强烈影响，在丛林大火期间的有针对性的公共卫生建议可能没有达到减少儿童户外活动的预期效果。只有当空气质量恶化到大约 3.5 倍空气质量指数阈值（>200）时，澳大利亚卫生部认为“危险”时，儿童的身体活动才会下降。公共卫生机构应重新评估丛林大火期间健康信息的有效性，并制定策略来减轻对儿童健康的风险。