A consensus meeting was held in Bangkok, 21-23 May 2002, where experts and young scientists in the field of physical activity, energy expenditure and body-weight regulation discussed the different aspects of physical activity in relation to the emerging problem of obesity worldwide. The following consensus statement was accepted unanimously. 'The current physical activity guideline for adults of 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity daily, preferably all days of the week, is of importance for limiting health risks for a number of chronic diseases including coronary heart disease and diabetes. However for preventing weight gain or regain this guideline is likely to be insufficient for many individuals in the current environment. There is compelling evidence that prevention of weight regain in formerly obese individuals requires 60-90 minutes of moderate intensity activity or lesser amounts of vigorous intensity activity. Although definitive data are lacking, it seems likely that moderate intensity activity of approximately 45 to 60 minutes per day, or 1.7 PAL (Physical Activity Level) is required to prevent the transition to overweight or obesity. For children, even more activity time is recommended. A good approach for many individuals to obtain the recommended level of physical activity is to reduce sedentary behaviour by incorporating more incidental and leisure-time activity into the daily routine. Political action is imperative to effect physical and social environmental changes to enable and encourage physical activity. Settings in which these environmental changes can be implemented include the urban and transportation infrastructure, schools, and workplaces.'

ObjectivesTo determine the indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric healthcare utilisation and severe disease at a national level following lockdown on 23 March 2020.DesignNational retrospective cohort study.SettingEmergency childhood primary and secondary care providers across Scotland; two national paediatric intensive care units (PICUs); statutory death records.Participants273 455 unscheduled primary care attendances; 462 437 emergency department attendances; 54 076 emergency hospital admissions; 413 PICU unplanned emergency admissions requiring invasive mechanical ventilation; and 415 deaths during the lockdown study period and equivalent dates in previous years.Main outcome measuresRates of emergency care consultations, attendances and admissions; clinical severity scores on presentation to PICU; rates and causes of childhood death. For all data sets, rates during the lockdown period were compared with mean or aggregated rates for the equivalent dates in 2016–2019.ResultsThe rates of emergency presentations to primary and secondary care fell during lockdown in comparison to previous years. Emergency PICU admissions for children requiring invasive mechanical ventilation also fell as a proportion of cases for the entire population, with an OR of 0.52 for likelihood of admission during lockdown (95% CI 0.37 to 0.73), compared with the equivalent period in previous years. Clinical severity scores did not suggest children were presenting with more advanced disease. The greatest reduction in PICU admissions was for diseases of the respiratory system; those for injury, poisoning or other external causes were equivalent to previous years. Mortality during lockdown did not change significantly compared with 2016–2019.ConclusionsNational lockdown led to a reduction in paediatric emergency care utilisation, without associated evidence of severe harm.

BACKGROUND: Body mass index (BMI) is widely used to assess the prevalence of childhood obesity in populations, and to infer risk of subsequent obesity-related disease. However, BMI does not measure fat directly, and its relationship with body fatness is not necessarily stable over time. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that contemporary children have different fatness for a given BMI value compared to the reference child of two decades ago. DESIGN: Comparison of children from Cambridge, UK with the reference child of Fomon and colleagues (Am J Clin Nutr 1982; 35: 1169 -1175). SUBJECTS: A total of 212 children aged 1 -10.99 y. MEASUREMENTS: Body composition was assessed by deuterium dilution. Fat-free mass and fat mass were both adjusted for height to give fat-free mass index and fat mass index. RESULTS: Contemporary Cambridge children have similar mean BMI values to the reference child. However, both boys and girls have significantly greater mean fatness and significantly lower mean fat-free mass than the reference child after taking height into account. Contemporary Cambridge children have greater fatness for a given BMI value than the reference child. CONCLUSION: BMI-based assessments of nutritional status may be under-estimating the increase in children's fatness. Any change over time in the relationship between BMI and body fatness will create a mismatch between (1) current estimates of childhood obesity and (2) predicted risk of future adult illness, calculated on the basis of longitudinal cohorts recruited in childhood several decades ago. However, an alternative interpretation is that the reference data are inappropriate. Caution should therefore be used in generalizing from this study, and further investigations of the issue are required.

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