Sedentary behavior in children and adolescents: an update of the systematic review of the Brazil’s Report Card

Abstract

This review updated data on sedentary behavior in Brazilian children and adolescents for the Brazil’s Report Card 4.0. The searching was carried out in eight databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, LILACS, SPORTDiscus, BIREME, Scielo, and Google Scholar), based on the the following criteria: original research; samples including Brazilian children and adolescents; to be a observational survey with the prevalence of at least one component of sedentary behavior. In this updated review were included 118 studies (corresponding to 159 papers), being 71 studies (104 papers) previously reviewed in the Report Card 3.0 and 47 studies (55 papers) found in update from 2018 to 2019. Screen time (34.7%) and TV viewing (28.2%) remains the most investigated components, however, two studies investigated cell phone use, and there was an increase in other types of sedentary behavior such as sitting time (from 9% to 25.6%). We found only four studies involving pre-scholars, but four of them covered almost all age groups. Self-reported questionnaire was the instrument more used; however, increased the studies using accelerometers (from 2 to 8 studies). The cut-off point more frequent was 2 hours/day (47.5%), but the use of other measures doubled. Almost 70% of the studies reported that less than 50% (general range: 9.4% to 97.7%) of individuals had < 2 hours/day of sedentary behavior. The updated review found few studies with prescholars and children; using validated instruments; using accelerometers, with standardization of cutoff points, and prevalences very close to what was observed in the previous review.

Results from Brazil’s 2022 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents

“…If the results were device-based measures, Brazil would have a grade of D+ (34.1% of children and young people met the recommendations), that is, a better performance than grade D (29.9% of children and young people met the recommendations) [ 13 ]. Another interesting aspect is that only 3 out of 10 Brazilian children and adolescents spend up to two hours a day in front of a screen, and most of the findings use subjective measures [ 12 ]. For Active Play, six studies that were restricted to analyzing the fact of playing or not playing did not specify the time spent on activities [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], which limits the proposition of strategies for guiding educators and stakeholders.…”

“…The protocol for this research was published on the Open Science Framework (OSF) platform ( , accessed on 1 March 2022). To gather the best evidence available in Brazil on each indicator, the following strategies were adopted: Fourteen systematic reviews were conducted [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], covering the following indicators: (1) Overall Physical Activity; (2) Organized Sport and Physical Activity; (3) Active Play; (4) Active Transportation; (5) Sedentary Behaviors; (6) Sleep; (7) Family and Peers; (8) Community and Environment; (9) Physical Fitness; (10) Obesity; (11) Poor Mental Health. In all systematic reviews, only studies with a sample of Brazilian children and adolescents published until December 2019—that is, before the COVID-19 pandemic—were considered eligible.…”

“…The target age for the samples investigated in the systematic reviews of this current report was adolescent children aged 5 to 19 years. All details about the samples can be consulted in previously published articles [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]; For the School indicator, an original study [ 26 ] was conducted with public data from the National Institute for Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (INEP); For the indicator related to Governmental Strategies and Investments, analyses were based on official information from the Brazilian Federal Government, in which official websites of the different Ministries in Brazil, national surveys of the federal government, and technical reports on the subject were researched. One paper about this indicator has been published [ 27 ].…”

“…The target age for the samples investigated in the systematic reviews of this current report was adolescent children aged 5 to 19 years. All details about the samples can be consulted in previously published articles [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ];…”

“…Furthermore, in all articles, the results are discussed in depth, and improvement strategies for each indicator are presented. The articles were published in peer-reviewed and open access journals [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”