Association and Impact of the Physical Environment on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours in an Asthmatic Pediatric Population
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Association and Impact of the Physical Environment on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours in an Asthmatic Pediatric PopulationGiorge Voutsas Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Medical Science University of Toronto 2025 Abstract Background: Asthma prevalence has increased worldwide in recent decades, resulting in extensive use of emergency care services that significantly contribute to burdens on the healthcare system. Lifestyle factors, notably decreased physical activity (PA) and increased sedentary behaviour, are implicated in increased asthma severity and prevalence. However, the amount and intensity of PA in children with severe asthma are not well described, and the factors contributing to decreased PA are not well understood. This study aims to characterize the full movement spectrum over 24 hours and identify risk factors that may modify physical activity (PA) in children with severe asthma. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study compared two age- and sex-matched groups aged 7 to 10 years: a group with severe asthma and a healthy control group. Anthropometric measurements were collected, and subjects were provided with the GT3X accelerometer and GPS devices to be worn simultaneously for seven consecutive days and nights, following a 24-hour protocol. The GT3X device evaluated wake-sleep cycles across all age groups, providing objective measures of physical activity (PA) intensities and sleep using age-specific, validated cut-off points. GPS devices objectively assessed the impact of the physical environment as the primary moderator influencing PA participation. Furthermore, specific barriers and facilitators to physical activity (PA) in pediatric asthma were assessed through qualitative interviews and structured surveys. Results: Children with uncontrolled severe asthma did not significantly differ in their participation of weekly mean MVPA compared to controls (92.3 minutes [85.3-122.6] vs. 110.2 minutes [86.3-132.7], p=0.38), while increased weekly mean sedentary time (490.3 minutes [452.9-536.8] vs. 441.6 minutes [364.3-518.3], p=0.06) was seen in uncontrolled severe asthma phenotypes. Physical environment was not found to have an impact on PA participation in this population. Additionally, we found that social pressure may act as a significant facilitator of PA for children, while parents often restrict activities due to concerns about exacerbating symptoms. By identifying the factors that impact PA behaviours in children with severe asthma, this research provides the foundation for future studies to develop tailored PA interventions and specific guidelines for safe exercise, with a personalized approach to exercise prescription for this population.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".