Levels of physical activity and sedentary time among 10- to 12-year-old boys and girls across 5 European countries using accelerometers: an observational study within the ENERGY-project

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Abstract

Background

The study aim was to objectively assess levels of sedentary time, light, moderate and vigorous physical activity (PA) among 10-12 year olds across five European countries and to examine differences in sedentary time and PA according to gender and country.

Methods

686 children (mean age = 11.6 ± 0.8 years, 53% girls, mean BMI = 19.0 ± 3.4 kg/m ²) from Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands and Switzerland wore Actigraph accelerometers and had at least 2 weekdays with minimum 10 h-wearing time and 1 weekend day with minimum 8 h-wearing time. Data were analyzed using multivariate analyses of covariance.

Results

Girls spent significantly more time sedentary (500 minutes/day) than boys (474 minutes/day) and significantly less time in light (267 minutes/day) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (32 minutes/day) than boys (284 minutes/day; 43 minutes/day respectively; p < 0.001). 4.6% of the girls and 16.8% of the boys met moderate-to-vigorous PA recommendations of at least 60 minutes/day. Greek boys were more sedentary (510 minutes/day; all at p < 0.05) than other boys. Dutch girls were less sedentary (457 minutes/day; all at p < 0.05) than other girls. Swiss girls displayed more moderate-to-vigorous PA (43 minutes/day; at p < 0.05) than other girls.

Conclusions

Large proportions of children across different European countries did not meet PA recommendations and spent a lot of time sedentary. Mean time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA was significantly lower than the recommended 60 minutes. Obesity prevention programmes focusing on both decreasing sedentary time and increasing light, moderate and vigorous PA are needed for European children, particularly girls.

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Most cited references 25

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Comparison of overweight and obesity prevalence in school-aged youth from 34 countries and their relationships with physical activity and dietary patterns.

I. Janssen, P T Katzmarzyk, W Boyce … (2005)

The purposes of this systematic review were to present and compare recent estimates of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in school-aged youth from 34 countries and to examine associations between overweight and selected dietary and physical activity patterns. Data consisted of a cross-sectional survey of 137 593 youth (10-16 years) from the 34 (primarily European) participating countries of the 2001-2002 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was determined based on self-reported height and weight and the international child body mass index standards. Logistic regression was employed to examine associations between overweight status with selected dietary and physical activity patterns. The two countries with the highest prevalence of overweight (pre-obese + obese) and obese youth were Malta (25.4% and 7.9%) and the United States (25.1% and 6.8%) while the two countries with the lowest prevalence were Lithuania (5.1% and 0.4%) and Latvia (5.9% and 0.5%). Overweight and obesity prevalence was particularly high in countries located in North America, Great Britain, and south-western Europe. Within most countries physical activity levels were lower and television viewing times were higher in overweight compared to normal weight youth. In 91% of the countries examined, the frequency of sweets intake was lower in overweight than normal weight youth. Overweight status was not associated with the intake of fruits, vegetables, and soft drinks or time spent on the computer. In conclusion, the adolescent obesity epidemic is a global issue. Increasing physical activity participation and decreasing television viewing should be the focus of strategies aimed at preventing and treating overweight and obesity in youth.

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Physical activity levels and patterns of 9- and 15-yr-old European children.

Chris J Riddoch, Lars Bo Andersen, Niels Wedderkopp … (2004)

The purpose of this study was to assess physical activity levels and patterns from children participating in the European Youth Heart Study (EYHS). Very limited physical activity data exist that have been collected from representative samples of children and even fewer data collected where physical activity has been measured using objective methods. Subjects were 2185 children aged 9 and 15 yr from Denmark, Portugal, Estonia, and Norway. Physical activity data were obtained using MTI (formerly CSA) accelerometers. The primary outcome variable was established as the child's activity level (accelerometer counts per minute). Children wore the accelerometer for 3 or 4 d, which included at least 1 weekend day. Boys were more active than girls at age 9 (784 +/- 282 vs 649 +/- 204 counts.min-1) and 15 yr (615 +/- 228 vs 491 +/- 163 counts.min-1). With respect to time engaged in moderate-intensity activity, gender differences were apparent at age 9 (192 +/- 66 vs 160 +/- 54 min.d-1) and age 15 (99 +/- 45 vs 73 +/- 32 min.d-1). At age 9, the great majority of boys and girls achieved current health-related physical activity recommendations (97.4% and 97.6%, respectively). At age 15, fewer children achieved the guidelines and gender differences were apparent (boys 81.9% vs girls 62.0%). Accelerometers are a feasible and accurate instrument for use in large epidemiological studies of children's activity. Boys tend to be more active than girls, and there is a marked reduction in activity over the adolescent years. The great majority of younger children achieve current physical activity recommendations, whereas fewer older children do so-especially older girls.

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Objectively measured light-intensity physical activity is independently associated with 2-h plasma glucose.

Genevieve N Healy, David Dunstan, Jo Salmon … (2007)

We examined the associations of objectively measured sedentary time, light-intensity physical activity, and moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity with fasting and 2-h postchallenge plasma glucose in Australian adults. A total of 67 men and 106 women (mean age +/- SD 53.3 +/- 11.9 years) without diagnosed diabetes were recruited from the 2004-2005 Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study. Physical activity was measured by Actigraph accelerometers worn during waking hours for 7 consecutive days and summarized as sedentary time (accelerometer counts/min or =1,952). An oral glucose tolerance test was used to ascertain 2-h plasma glucose and fasting plasma glucose. After adjustment for confounders (including waist circumference), sedentary time was positively associated with 2-h plasma glucose (b = 0.29, 95% CI 0.11-0.48, P = 0.002); light-intensity activity time (b = -0.25, -0.45 to -0.06, P = 0.012) and moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity time (b = -1.07, -1.77 to -0.37, P = 0.003) were negatively associated. Light-intensity activity remained significantly associated with 2-h plasma glucose following further adjustment for moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity (b = -0.22, -0.42 to -0.03, P = 0.023). Associations of all activity measures with fasting plasma glucose were nonsignificant (P > 0.05). These data provide the first objective evidence that light-intensity physical activity is beneficially associated with blood glucose and that sedentary time is unfavorably associated with blood glucose. These objective data support previous findings from studies using self-report measures, and suggest that substituting light-intensity activity for television viewing or other sedentary time may be a practical and achievable preventive strategy to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

Title: The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Publisher: BioMed Central

ISSN (Electronic): 1479-5868

Publication date Collection: 2012

Publication date (Electronic): 31 March 2012

Volume: 9

Page: 34

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

[2 ]Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

[3 ]Department of Public and Occupational Health and the EMGO Institute for Health & Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

[4 ]Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece

[5 ]Department of Paediatrics, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

[6 ]Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss TPH, Basel, Switzerland

[7 ]University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

[8 ]Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the EMGO Institute for Health & Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Article

Publisher ID: 1479-5868-9-34

DOI: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-34

PMC ID: 3359200

PubMed ID: 22462550

SO-VID: 54daf0ad-ba39-4459-80bb-1a3bd1e05304

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Levels of physical activity and sedentary time among 10- to 12-year-old boys and girls across 5 European countries using accelerometers: an observational study within the ENERGY-project

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Most cited references 25

Comparison of overweight and obesity prevalence in school-aged youth from 34 countries and their relationships with physical activity and dietary patterns.

Physical activity levels and patterns of 9- and 15-yr-old European children.

Objectively measured light-intensity physical activity is independently associated with 2-h plasma glucose.

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