Club Sport Participation of Term and Preterm Born Children at 5 Years of Age

Background: Participation in organized physical activity (club sport) has been associated with health benefits in childhood. However, it is unclear whether children born term (FT) or preterm (PT) participate in similar types of sport.

Methods: Parental reported type of club sport was analyzed in the German Neonatal Network (birth year: 2009–2014) at 5 to 6 years of age. Club sport was grouped into following categories: soccer, swimming, gymnastics, dancing, equestrian, martial arts, tennis, handball, athletics, hockey, children's sport/ball sport and others. Differences between groups were analyzed using chi-square test.

Results: Of the very low birth weight (VLBW) PT (<37 weeks of gestation, birth weight of <1,500 g), 1,516/3,475 (43.6%) engaged in club sport compared to 135/345 (39.1%) of term born (p = 0.051). In the PT group, gymnastics (581/1,516, 38.3%), dancing (248/1,516, 16.4%), swimming (137/1,516, 9.0%), and soccer (130/1,516, 8.6%) were the most frequent types of sport compared to dancing (29/135, 21.5%), gymnastic (28/135, 20.7%), soccer (17/135, 12.6%), and material arts (12/135, 8.9%) in the FT group with swimming (5/135, 3.7%) ranging on the 10th place (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Our data show that PT engages in at least as much club sport as FT peers at pre-school age in Germany. Gymnastic, dancing, and soccer are easily accessible in all regions of Germany and are chosen at a similar rate. However, parents of VLBW infants seem to prefer swimming for their children at a far higher rate compared to FT peers indicating a conscious choice of parents in which type of sport their children engage.

Publication History

Article published online:
28 October 2021