Barriers to daily life physical activities for Brazilian children with asthma: a cross-sectional study

Background Objective: To identify barriers to daily life physical activities (DLPA) and to evaluate physical activity levels for children with asthma and without asthma. Method: This is a cross-sectional study that enrolled 130 children with asthma and 54 non-asthma, from 7 to 12 years old. All of the children in both groups used an accelerometer for 6 consecutive days to assess DLPA and completed a questionnaire to evaluate barriers to physical activity. Accelerometer was used to measure each child's total number of steps, as well as the number of steps and the time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). The barrier questionnaire to DLPA included 11 questions, divided into three domains: personal, social and environmental. Results: The most commonly described barrier to DLPA in the asthma and non-asthma groups was an unsafe environment (23.6% vs 28.5%, respectively). The asthma group reported having asthma (19%) and lack of parental encouragement (17.3%) as being other important barriers to DLPA. It was also observed that the asthma and non-asthma groups presented similar values for the total number of steps (13,379 +/- 3,837 vs 14,055 +/- 3,914, respectively, p > 0.05), number of steps in MVPA (5,654 +/- 1,988 vs. 6,025 +/- 2,058, p > 0.05), and time spent in MVPA (46 +/- 16 min vs. 50.8 +/- 14.7 min, p > 0.05). Conclusions: An unsafe environment is the main barrier to physical activity for Brazilian children. Moreover, a lack of parental encouragement and having asthma were considered to be barriers to physical activity. And lastly, children have similar levels of physical activity whether they have asthma or do not have asthma.