Comparison of pedometer and accelerometer measures of physical activity during preschool time on 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children

Abstract

Correlation between the preschool children's pedometer-determined step counts and total engagement in physical activity during preschool time was moderately high. Children's step counts at preschool were low, and the time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity at preschool was very short.

Physical Activity of Preschool Children: A Review

“…The average time spent on light to vigorous physical activity (i.e. : not sedentary activity) was 50 (± 17) minutes during the period of preschool [10]. Boys had a higher percentage of MVPA, and 3.2% against 2.5% in girls, p=0.01 [5].…”

“…The time observed within the preschool was 87%, with a predominance of SB, 10% of the time was observed outside the classroom and the transition from outdoors to internal it was 3% [13]. The proportion of MVPA was 4% for children of 3 years old and 3.3% between 4-5 years old [10]. The average time spent on light to vigorous physical activity (i.e.…”

“…As for the choice of the sample, two selected by convenience [10,3]. In total, 91 preschools were analyzed, totaling 1485 children aged 2-6 years old.…”

“…The accelerometer of ActiGraph mark GT1M was used in a study as the single instrument [3], and in two other studies combined with the use of pedometers Yamax SW-200 [10] and direct observation [14,15]. The cutoffs of Sirard et al [16] and 15 second epoch were used in three studies with accelerometers.…”

“…The percentage spent in MVPA and sedentary time on, tended to decrease while the time LMPA tended to increase in older children [9,10,5,13]. One factor to consider for older children have lower MVPA values is the greatest time in the classroom, in educational activities that younger [5].…”