Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the daily steps, physical activities and activity coefficient of the elementary school children in the rural area. Body weight, height and daily steps were measured and one-day activity diaries were collected by interviewing children. The average age of the subjects was 9.96+/-1.02 years. Average height, weight, obesity index, body fat and muscle of subjects were 136.2+/-8.9 cm, 35.2+/-8.5 kg, 99.6+/-18.8%, 22.9+/-8.5% and 35.8+/-6.0%, respectively. The average daily steps of the subjects was 17,584 and daily steps (19,314) of 3rd grade students was significantly higher than that (15,712) of 5th grade children. But there was no significant difference in daily steps and activity coefficients between boys and girls. Daily steps (23,347) of exercise group showed the significantly higher than that (16,144) of nonexercise group. Gender and grade of subjects did not have significant influence on activity coefficients, but there was a significant difference in activity coefficient on weekdays between the exercise group (1.82+/-0.30) and non-exercise group (1.50+/-0.21). Analysis of variance revealed stronger associations between daily steps and body fat (%) than between daily steps and BMI. Daily steps showed significant negative correlation with body fat (%) measured using two methods r =-0.321 and r = -0.365, respectively. Activity coefficient was significantly correlated (r = 0.436) with daily steps, thus increasing daily steps can prevent and treat childhood obesity by increasing the energy expenditure. The higher activity coefficients (weekday 1.56, weekend 1.53) of the subjects was caused by the fact that rural students spent more time outside and enjoyed stronger activities than urban students. The results of this study can be used to estimate energy requirements for Korean children based on exercise levels and living areas.

• Keywords: pedometer count; activity coefficient; elementary school children