Community-wide youth exercise promotion: long-term outcomes of the Minnesota Heart Health Program and the Class of 1989 Study

Abstract

The Class of 1989 Study, part of the Minnesota Heart Health Program (MHHP), involved a population-wide research and demonstration project to reduce cardiovascular disease in three intervention communities in the North-Central United States (1980-1993). Beginning in sixth grade (1983), seven annual waves of measurements were taken from students in one of the MHHP intervention communities and its matched pair (baseline N = 2,376). Self-reported data were collected at each time period describing a variety of health-related behavior, including hours of exercise engaged in per week and duration and intensity of regular physical activity. Using school as the unit of analysis, physical activity levels throughout most of the follow-up period were significantly higher in the intervention community for females. Males' average values were higher in the intervention community, but were largely statistically insignificant. Results suggest multiple intervention components such as behavioral education in schools and complementary community-wide strategies can produce lasting improvement in adolescent physical activity, particularly with female students.