Comparison of Time Spent in Moderate and Vigorous Activity Among Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Adolescents

Background: Regular physical activity (PA) is important to overall health and well being. Despite substantial research on PA in typically developing (TD) adolescents, much less is known about the PA level of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Objectives:  To compare the frequency of participation in physical activities and time spent in moderate and vigorous activity (MVPA) between adolescents with ASD and TD adolescents. We hypothesized that adolescents with ASD would participate in fewer physical activities and spend less time in MVPA compared to their TD peers.

Methods: Thirty-five adolescents with ASD (29 males/6 females) and 60 TD adolescents (36 males/24 females) ages 13-19 (mean age 15.5 years) participated in the Teens Recreational and Activity Choices study.  Adolescents were interviewed jointly with their parents about their participation in physical activities over the previous year and were asked to wear an activity monitor (accelerometer) for 5 weekdays and 2 weekend days. The number of different physical activities the adolescent participated in was determined from the joint interview, with regular participation defined as an activity done 12 or more times in the prior year. Time spent in MVPA was determined by accelerometry.

Results:    Adolescents with ASD participated in significantly fewer ‘regular’ activities than TD teens, but only among those younger than 16 years of age.  After adjustment for sex, for adolescents under 16 years of age, those with ASD participated in 5.3 activities on average, compared to 7.1 activities for TD adolescents (p=0.03). In contrast, after adjustment for sex, for adolescents older than 16 years there was no statistically significant difference between the groups (5.6 vs. 5.7 activities, for ASD vs. TD, respectively). Walking/hiking and active video gaming were among the top regular activities in both groups.  Compared to TD adolescents, adolescents with ASD spent significantly less time in MVPA.  After adjustment for age and sex, adolescents with ASD spent approximately 28 minutes of MVPA daily compared to 52 minutes among TD adolescents (p<0.01).  In addition, we observed a significant group-by-age interaction; when the data were stratified by age and adjusted for sex, we found a significant group difference only among those younger than 16 years (TD=52 minutes/day, ASD=26 minutes/day, p<0.01).  Among older teens, the pattern was similar but not statistically significant (TD=50 minutes/day, ASD=33 minutes/day, p=0.16).  Among those subjects who wore an accelerometer, participants in neither of the groups met the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity daily: 29% of TD teens met the recommendation compared to 14% of teens with ASD, although this was not significantly different between groups.

Conclusions:   We found that teens with ASD who were younger than 16 years of age participated in fewer regular activities and spent significantly less time in MVPA than their same age TD peers. Additionally, most adolescents did not meet the daily recommendations for 60 minutes of MVPA. These findings underscore the need for research on how youth with ASD can be supported to increase their participation in daily MVPA.