Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of 746 children from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in February 2015.
| Total (n = 746) |
Schools with Physical Activity Intervention (n = 300) |
Schools without Physical Activity Intervention (n = 446) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| In numbers (percentages) | |||
| Girls | 372 (49.9) | 150 (50.0) | 222 (49.8) |
| Overweight a | 102 (13.7) | 38 (12.7) | 64 (14.3) |
| Obese b | 39 (5.3) | 15 (5.0) | 24 (5.4) |
| Stunted c | 86 (11.5) | 46 (15.3) | 40 (9.0) |
| Anaemic d | 138 (18.5) | 67 (22.3) | 71 (15.9) |
| Infected with intestinal protozoa e | 120 (16.1) | 61 (20.3) | 59 (13.2) |
| Infected with soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) f | 235 (31.5) | 132 (44.0) | 103 (23.1) |
| In means (SD) | |||
| Age in years | 10.0 (0.9) | 10.1 (0.9) | 9.9 (1.0) |
| Height in cm | 133.3 (7.1) | 132.6 (7.1) | 133.8 (7.0) |
| Skinfolds in mm | 9.0 (4.5) | 9.0 (4.5) | 9.0 (4.4) |
| Shuttle run in laps | 36.3 (17.3) | 35.6 (17.0) | 36.8 (17.4) |
| VO2max g in mL × kg−1 × min−1 | 46.1 (4.3) | 45.8 (4.1) | 46.3 (4.3) |
| Overall SES index h | 0.0 (2.8) | −0.1 (2.7) | 0.0 (2.9) |
| Poorest | −4.8 (2.3) | −4.5 (2.5) | −5.0 (2.1) |
| Second quintile | −0.3 (0.6) | −0.2 (0.6) | −0.4 (0.6) |
| Less poor | 1.0 (0.2) | 1.0 (0.2) | 1.0 (0.2) |
| Fourth quintile | 1.7 (0.2) | 1.7 (0.2) | 1.7 (0.2) |
| Least poor | 2.3 (0.2) | 2.3 (0.2) | 2.3 (0.2) |
| Score of self-reported physical activity | 8.4 (3.8) | 9.1 (3.7) | 7.8 (3.8) |
a Overweight: >+1 SD (equivalent to BMI 25 kg/m2 at 19 years); b Obesity: >+2 SD (equivalent to BMI 30 kg/m2 at 19 years); c Stunting is defined as height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) score <−2; d Anaemic is defined as haemoglobin concentration in blood ≤11.4 g dL−1; e Infected with one or two intestinal parasite species (Cryptosporidium spp. and/or Giardia intestinalis); f Infected with one or two soil-transmitted helminth (STH) species (A. lumbricoides and/or T. trichiura; no hookworm infections were diagnosed); g Using age-adjusted test protocol from Léger et al. [20]; h Socioeconomic status (SES) is based on self-reported household characteristics and assets, and calculated based on factor scores of principal component analysis (PCA).