An investigation of seasonal variation in leisure-time physical activity in persons with spinal cord injury

• Published in: Spinal cord Vol. 50; no. 7; pp. 507 - 511
• Main Authors: Perrier, M-J, Latimer-Cheung, A E, Ginis, K A M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.07.2012; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/378/1687/1825; 631/443; 692/700/565; Activities of Daily Living; Adult; Anatomy; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cerebrospinal fluid. Meninges. Spinal cord; Female; Human Physiology; Humans; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Leisure Activities; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Motor Activity; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurochemistry; Neurology; Neuropsychology; Neurosciences; Ontario - epidemiology; original-article; Prevalence; Seasons; Spinal Cord Injuries - epidemiology; Spinal Cord Injuries - psychology; Sports - statistics & numerical data; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Ontario; spinal cord injury; exercise after injury; season; sport participation; leisure-time physical activity; Physical exercise; Nervous system diseases; Vertebral canal; Time variation; Sport; Seasonal variation; Spinal cord trauma; Central nervous system disease; Season; Spinal cord disease
• ISSN: 1362-4393; 1476-5624
• DOI: 10.1038/sc.2012.11

Study design: Secondary cross-sectional analyses of a cohort. Objectives: To examine seasonal variation in total moderate-to-vigorous leisure-time physical activity (MV-LTPA), exercise and sport participation in a cohort of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Community (Ontario, Canada). Methods: Participants with SCI ( n =695) completed telephone interviews regarding their involvement in MV-LTPA along with social cognitive predictors of MV-LTPA. Logistic regression was used to predict the impact of season on participation in MV-LTPA, exercise and sport. Hierarchical linear regression was used to examine seasonal variation in min per day of MV-LTPA in the active sub-cohort ( n =342) with a specific focus on exercise (for example, wheeling), and sport (for example, sledge hockey). Results: Logistic regressions revealed that season did not predict whether participants engaged in MV-LTPA, exercise or sport. Linear regressions revealed that individuals in the active sub-cohort who completed the questionnaire during the winter reported engaging in less MV-LTPA than those who were interviewed in summer (β summer =0.14, P <0.05). This pattern was observed for exercise (β summer =0.16, P <0.05; R 2 change=0.018) but not for sport (β summer =0.076, P =0.68; R 2 change=0.014). Conclusion: Individuals with SCI report less exercise and total LTPA accrued during the winter months; sport was found to be an exception to this case.