Table 2

Physical activity and sedentary time by age group in Malawi and USA¶

MalawiUS
Mean (CI95) or %Mean (CI95) or %CountryAge groupCountry‡ Age group
All15–1920–3940–6465–85All15–1920–3940–6465–85F (partial η squared)F (partial η squared)F (ηp2)
Sedentary (min/day)387.6 (377.4–397.8)410.6 (388.0–433.3)385.6 (371.6–399.6)380.1 (365.2–395.0)374.1 (342.3–405.8)525.8 (522.2–529.4)605.4 (589.0–621.8)505.6 (496.6–514.6)481.4 (476.9–485.9)510.9 (497.6–524.1)674.10* (0.156)32.8* (0.026)18.99* (0.015)
Low-light (min/day)222.1 (214.7–229.5)203.8 (187.4–220.2)210.3 (200.2–220.4)224.0 (213.2–234.8)250.4 (227.4–273.4)217.0 (214.7–229.5)152.2 (104.3–164.1)232.1 (225.6–238.7)248.0 (244.8–251.3)235.5 (225.9–245.1)1.78 (0.000)27.61* (0.022)28.89* (0.023)
High-light (min/day)136.3 (132.7–139.9)115.8 (107.9–123.7)138.9 (134.0–143.8)147.5 (142.3–152.7)143.0 (131.9–154.0)45.6 (44.3–46.8)27.2 (21.5–32.9)50.9 (47.7–54.0)57.9 (56.3–59.5)46.3 (41.7–50.9)2394.2* (0.396)42.67* (0.034)0.743 (0.001)
Moderate (min/day)71.6 (68.8–74.5)86.7 (80.4–93.0)83.1 (79.2–87.0)67.0 (62.9–72.1)49.8 (40.9–58.7)28.0 (27.0–29.0)30.9 (26.3–35.5)27.5 (25.0–30.0)29.0 (27.7–30.3)24.5 (20.8–28.2)867.5* (0.192)8.98* (0.007)24.67* (0.020)
Vigorous (min/day)1.1 (0.5–1.8)1.8 (0.3–3.4)0.9 (0.0–1.9)0.2 (−0.8–1.2)1.6 (−0.6–3.8)2.5 (2.2–2.7)3.08 (2.0–4.2)2.7 (2.1–3.3)2.5 (2.2–2.8)1.6 (0.7–2.5)13.7* (0.004)1.18 (0.001)1.41 (0.001)
MVPA (min/day)72.8 (69.7–75.9)88.6 (81.7–95.4)84.0 (79.8–88.2)67.2 (62.7–71.8)51.4 (41.8–61.0)30.5 (29.4–31.5)34.0 (29.0–39.0)30.2 (27.5–33.0)31.5 (30.1–32.8)26.2 (22.2–30.2)691.88* (0.159)8.12* (0.007)20.63* (0.017)
Accelerometer total counts per day506 265.8 (49.0862.–521 669.5)525 608.6 (491 476.6–559 740.7)533 582.3 (512 483.8–554 680.9)496 352.0 (473 867.7–518 836.3)469 520.1 (421 604.9–517 435-3)254 210.9 (248 843.5–259 578.4)221 677.0 (196 951.4–246 402.6)266 743.1 (253 122.5–280 363.8)286 548.0 (279 715.2–293 380.9)241 875.6 (221 922.2–261 829.0)986.47* (0.213)5.57† (0.005)9.23* (0.008)
% meeting MVPA guideline of 150 min/week93.7%100.0%99.0%90.3%53.6%55.1%90.1%69.0%56.9%24.3%Npar test statistic =227.57*Npar test statistic =695.73*
  • *p≤0.001.

  • †p≤0.01.

  • ‡p≤0.05.

  • §p≤0.10.

  • ¶Sex, age and accelerometer-wearing time adjusted for as covariates, except for % meeting MVPA guideline of 150 min/week.