Physical activity levels of 4–5-year-old children in the Northeast of England: an epidemiological study
Oral Presentation B13.1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.576Keywords:
Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, AccelerometerAbstract
Background: Children’s early years are a key time for development, with research suggesting that engaging in physical activity (PA) can have positive health effects in the short and long term. Despite this, studies reporting the prevalence of PA in young children are limited. Purpose: To provide preliminary epidemiology of accelerometer measured physical activity data in 4–5-year-old children living in the Northeast of England. As well as report variations according to sex, sociodemographics, BMI-z, day of the week, time of the day and season. Methods: Physical activity levels were assessed over 8 days in 4–5-year-old children using ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers. PA data was recorded and processed according to time spent in sedentary behaviour (SB), light moderate, moderate and vigorous PA, and statistical analysis, were performed according to individual and environmental variations. Results: This study found that on average children in the Northeast of England surpassed the recommendations of the UK PA (2019) guidelines for under 5’s and 5-18-year-olds. However, the major proportion of activity was spent at light intensity. Children were least active in autumn, whereas MVPA was consistent across other seasons. Also, children were more sedentary during weekdays, but performed equal amounts of MVPA on week and weekend days. Differences in PA levels were also found according to sex, socioeconomic status, age, and body mass index-z (BMI-z). Conclusions: This study found that on average, young children living in the Northeast of England, met the recommended UK levels of physical activity. However, there is still a need to reduce sex and socioeconomic inequalities in PA, and potentially promote more PA within the school day. Funding: This study was funded by Teesside University as part of the lead author's PhD project
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Copyright (c) 2021 Dan Jones, Alison Innerd, Emma L. Giles, Liane B. Azevedo
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