Active parents, active youth? Exploring the association between physical activity of youth with Cystic Fibrosis and their parents.

BACKGROUND

Parents play a major role in shaping their children's physical activity (PA) behaviour. This study aimed to investigate the association between PA of youth with Cystic Fibrosis (YwCF) and their parents.

METHODS

PA was measured by an ActiGraph GT3x-BT for seven consecutive days. Data were processed by GGIR and PA intensities were based on the age-specific Hildebrand equations. Moderate-to-vigorous PA was chosen as primary outcome.

RESULTS

26 YwCF-parent dyads participated. A significant positive association was found between parental PA behaviour and YwCF's PA behaviour for both moderate-to-vigorous PA and total PA (R2 = 0.60; p = 0.001; R2 = 0.64; p < 0.001). Furthermore, YwCF with less active parents perform 16 min/day less moderate-to-vigorous PA compared to YwCF with more active parents (p = 0.004).

CONCLUSION

Higher parental PA levels are strongly associated with higher YwCF's PA levels. This association needs to be confirmed in a larger cohort to explore whether parental behaviour is an effective strategy to improve YwCF's PA levels.