“Are Thai children and youth sufficiently active? prevalence and correlates of physical activity from a nationally representative cross-sectional study”

Abstract

BackgroundChildren and youth gain multiple health benefits from regular participation in physical activity (PA). However, in Thailand there is limited national data on children and youth’s PA behaviors and recent reports suggest that Thai children and youth have low levels of PA. Furthermore, there is almost no data on the factors associated with inactivity to support the development of a Thai National PA Plan. The purpose of this paper is to investigate Thai children and youth’s participation in PA and its correlates across sociodemographic characteristics and different PA domains.MethodsThis study applied a cross-sectional study design with a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling. A national representative sample of 13,255 children and youth aged 6-17 years were used for data analysis. A previously validated questionnaire was used to assess PA prevalence. Logistic regression was conducted to examine the relationships of socio-demographic factors, and participation in different PA domains with overall PA.ResultsOnly 23.4% of Thai children and youth met recommended levels of PA and there were large gender and regional differences. PA levels generally declined with age, although the level observed in the 10-13 year group was slightly higher than other year groups. A majority of children and youth engaged in a large number of different activities across PA domains. Sex, age, BMI, geographical regions, organized sports, participation in sport and recreational activities were significant predictors of meeting the global PA guidelines, whereas participation in physical education, active transport, and the number of screen time activities had no association. Girls were less likely to achieve sufficient PA levels (OR = 0.49, 95%CI; 0.45-0.54, p < 0.001), as were obese children (OR = 0.78, 95%CI; 0.64-0.94, p = 0.01), children living in the West (OR = 0.47, 95%CI; 0.38-0.59, p < 0.001), and those who did no participation in organized sports and sport/exercise activities, or minimal participation (1-2 activities) in recreational activities (OR = 0.79, 95%CI; 0.68-0.90, p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe prevalence estimate of meeting the recommended guideline of sufficient PA in Thai children and youth is low, despite the high levels of engagement in a large number of PA. The results indicate that policy and interventions aimed at increasing PA are needed with special attention required to address specific groups less likely to meet the PA guideline. Strategies to promote a large volume of participation in all possible types of PA as part of Thai children and youth’s daily life should be considered.

Physical activity level of Thai children and youth: Evidence from Thailand’s 2018 report card on physical activity for children and youth

“…Children and youth living in urban are less physically active compared to their rural counterparts, especially where the road safety and connectivity is lacking. 27 , 28 …”

“…The findings of the study also suggested that Thai children are lacking the opportunity to play because the unsafe and unfriendly community environment have restricted parents to allow their children to play outside. 29 , 30 Moreover, a high proportion of Thai children and youth engaged more in screen-time activities 27 as the digital media is widely available and more affordable for Thai families, 31 , 32 , 33 and television viewing and playing electronic game is common to keep the children inside the house. 31 , 34 …”

School policies and practices associated with Thai children’s overall and domain specific physical activity

“…Inclusion of explanatory variables in each regression model was guided by the literature. Potential confounders including sex, age, BMI, and region were selected based on previous research [ 30 ], and were accounted for in the multivariable regressions. The descriptive statistics and Chi-square or t-tests were performed in SPSS v26, and all regressions were conducted in STATA v15.…”

Prevalence and Correlates of Physical Activity Among Children and Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Population-Based Study of a Rural City in Japan

“…6 Among Asian countries, according to the WHO Global Health Observatory data (from the GSHS), Southeast Asian countries had a distinctly higher prevalence of meeting recommended MVPA level (26.6%) than did Japan. 32 For example, although the age classification was different, Amornsriwatanakul et al conducted a survey using a validated questionnaire among 13,225 Thai children and youth aged 6-17 years, 33 and 23.4% met recommended MVPA level (vs 20.1% in Japan). As mentioned above, to the best of our knowledge, no study has yet examined the prevalence of meeting recommended MVPA level at the population level in Japan.…”