Westmeath"s low participation in sports could have long-term health dangers - ESRI

A major survey has found that participation rates in sport are lower in Westmeath than anywhere else in the country - a fact which researchers say will have implications for the long-term health profile of the county.The Economic and Social Research Institute last week released its report, 'The Irish Sports Monitor', the first such study undertaken, and based on surveys carried out in 2007.It found that people in Westmeath recorded significantly lower participation levels in sport, even after the survey responses were 'weighted' based on issues such as sex, age, level of educational attainment, and income.In fact, Westmeath and Tipperary North were the only two areas out of the thirty local authority areas surveyed, in which fewer than 20 per cent of respondents had played a sport - including something as simple as going for a walk - during the week prior to the survey.Dr. Pete Lunn, one of the authors of the survey, says that in analysing all the figures, the county with the highest participation rate in sport was Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, while the county that emerged as the average was Sligo, and thus, all counties were measured against Sligo"s participation rates.The study those estimated, 'that a person of a given gender, age and socio-economic status living in Sligo is three times as likely to have played sport in the past 7 days as someone with the same characteristics living in Westmeath'.It continues: 'Similarly, a person with those characteristics living in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is more than half as likely again to have played sport in the previous 7 days as the person in Sligo, and almost five times as likely as the person in Westmeath.'Dr. Lunn explained that because the data provided was all weighted before analysis, it did give a picture which the researchers believe to be fairly accurate.'If we were simply to take the county with the most people playing sport, then what would happen would be that Dublin Fingal would come out on top, because it"s got a very young population...so we "control" for the whole population profile so we are comparing like with like.'Westmeath was, he said, one of five or six counties which were 'significantly' below average, and a theory - but not proven - was that it was due to the fact that it might have had a significant 'new' population move in, due to its moderate proximity to Dublin.'If you wanted to hypothesize..when people move it can often take quite a while to get into the community, and the activities they used to do,' he said.However, Dr. Lunn pointed out, the indications that Westmeath"s population was so sedentary could spell long time health problems for the county.'The World Health Organisation views physical activity as one of the leading factors in disease prevention,' he said, adding that the focus is sometimes solely on the impact of physical activity rates on levels of obesity, and not on the impact that involvement in exercise has on risk rates for heart disease and cancer. Death nowadays comes mainly as a result of degenerative diseases, he said, 'and physical activity protects you against those diseases'. As a result, he admitted, an area such as Westmeath could see its longevity rates suffer, and individuals" quality of life could suffer.Dr. Lunn went on to point out that while a lot of focus is on participation in team sports actvities, such as the GAA and soccer, the majority of sporting activity in this country is in fact solo sport, such as going to the gym, swimming, running, walking, and it was sometimes difficult to get the message out there of how important these sports are, particularly for people as they get older, and who do want to keep physically active.Factors which were found in the survey to impact significantly on the likelihood of someone staying involved in sport included their educational and socio economic levels. The better educated and wealthier are more likely to be involved in sports - and that holds true even for what are thought to sports with mass participation such as GAA and soccer.The survey found that in 2007, 24 per cent of the adult population in Ireland could be classified as 'highly active'; 28 per cent 'fairly active'; 30 per cent 'just active', and 18 per cent 'sedentary'. Some 33 per cent had played sport for at least 20 minutes during the previous 7 days.