Associations Between Asthma and Device-Based Measured Physical Activity Among Children and Adolescents: The Lolland-Falster Health Study.

AIM: The aim of this study was to examine whether asthma in children and adolescents is associated with a difference in physical activity (PA) both regarding intensity (sedentary, light, moderate-vigorous) and behaviour (lying, sitting, standing, walking, running and biking). METHODS: The study sample originated from the Lolland-Falster Health Study, which is a household-based population study that collected data from February 2016 to February 2020. A sub cohort of the study population was instructed to wear accelerometers. Children and adolescents aged 7-17 with accelerometer data were included in this study. Diagnosis of asthma was self-reported physician ever diagnosed. A linear mixed model regression analysis was used to evaluate the difference in PA between children and adolescents with asthma compared to children and adolescents without asthma. The analysis was adjusted for age, sex, parental education, tobacco smoking, passive smoking, height, weight and FEV1 and within-family variance was handled as a random effect. RESULTS: In total, 694 children and adolescents were included in this study, 127 (18%) with a diagnosis of asthma. We did not find a statistical difference in PA between those diagnosed with asthma compared to peers without asthma, neither in PA intensity nor behaviour. CONCLUSION: We observed no difference in PA in children and adolescents with asthma compared to peers without asthma.