Educational differentials in key domains of physical activity by ethnicity, age, and sex: a cross-sectional study of over 40,000 participants in The UK Household Longitudinal Study (2013-2015)

Fluharty, Meg E, Pinto Pereira, Snehal M, Benzeval, Michaela, Hamer, Mark, Jefferis, Barbara, Griffiths, Lucy, Cooper, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3370-5720 and Bann, Davic (2020) Educational differentials in key domains of physical activity by ethnicity, age, and sex: a cross-sectional study of over 40,000 participants in The UK Household Longitudinal Study (2013-2015). BMJ Open, 10. ISSN 2044-6055

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Abstract

Objectives To assess whether educational differentials in three key physical activity (PA) domains vary by age, sex and ethnicity. Design National cross-sectional survey. Setting UK. Participants Altogether 40 270 participants, aged 20 years and over, from the UK Household Longitudinal Study with information on education, PA and demographics collected in 2013–2015. Outcome measures Participation in active travel (AT), occupational activity (OA) and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) at the time of assessment. Results Lower educational attainment was associated with higher AT and OA, but lower weekly LTPA activity; these associations were modified by sex, ethnicity and age. Education-related differences in AT were larger for women—the difference in predicted probability of activity between the highest and the lowest education groups was −10% in women (95%CI: −11.9% to 7.9%) and −3% in men (−4.8% to –0.4%). Education-related differences in OA were larger among men −35% (-36.9% to –32.4%) than women −17% (-19.4% to –15.0%). Finally, education-related differences in moderate-to-vigorous LTPA varied by ethnicity; for example, differences were 17% (16.2% to 18.7%) for white individuals compared with 6% (0.6% to 11.6%) for black individuals. Conclusions Educational differences in PA vary by domain and are modified by age, sex and ethnicity. A better understanding of physically inactive subgroups may aid development of interventions to both increase activity levels and reduce health inequalities.