Levels of Physical Activity in Portuguese Children: the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Portuguese children spend about eight hours/day in sedentary behaviours, presenting only one hour in active play. This inactivity rate is about 84%. The lower levels of physical activity (PA) trigger several health problems in children and, after, in adulthood. With the appearance of the pandemic of COVID-19 and, consequently, increase of confined tasks like distance learning, has been verified the PA decrease and screen and sedentary behaviours increase in children. The objectives are: i) verify PA levels; ii) compare PA levels between genders, before and during the pandemic. The questionnaire “Cuestinário Pictórico de la Actividad Físca Infantil” has been translated and applied in Portugal, across the platform Google Forms, having been answered by 61 children of average age of 12.0±3.1 years. Before the pandemic, male children practice more PA. During the pandemic, has been verified a practise decrease in both genders. The PA levels settled between “Little active” and “Nothing active”, not checking differences between genders. The child’s age affected positively the formal PA in academies and clubs and, negatively the informal practise. It has been verified that lower PA levels are associated with higher weight values. Portuguese children PA levels are well below the recommended, situation that worsened during the pandemic. In order to combat childhood inactivity and overweight, it is necessary to develop measures to promote PA early specially in situations of pandemic and/or confinement, in which PA reaches even lower levels.

Understanding factors that influence physical activity behavior in people with developmental coordination disorder (DCD): a mixed-methods convergent integrated systematic review

“…Previous research has explored physical inactivity in children and adults with DCD and identified that people with DCD are less physically fit ( Schott et al, 2007 ), less physically active ( Cairney et al, 2012 ), have lower perceived athletic competence and tend to avoid participation in physical activity ( Rivilis et al, 2011 ). These findings are supported by a recent systematic review that explored differences in physical activity levels and the impact of these differences ( Mercê et al, 2023 ). The authors concluded that the 16 included studies identified lower levels of moderate and vigorous physical activity amongst children with DCD, with implications across physical and psychological domains reported ( Mercê et al, 2023 ).…”

“…These findings are supported by a recent systematic review that explored differences in physical activity levels and the impact of these differences ( Mercê et al, 2023 ). The authors concluded that the 16 included studies identified lower levels of moderate and vigorous physical activity amongst children with DCD, with implications across physical and psychological domains reported ( Mercê et al, 2023 ). A recent scoping review also examined psychosocial factors related to physical activity among children with DCD based on social cognitive theory, self-determination theory and the theory of planned behavior ( Kwan et al, 2022 ).…”

Educators by proxy: Emergency remote teaching and learning in the voice of parents

“…Finally, two parents mentioned the lack of access to physical or artistic activity, for example "[lack of] doing fun activities, sports, and arts. " An excessive amount of screen time (Carroll et al, 2020;Mangiavacchi et al, 2021), and lack of physical activity (Pattnaik and Jalongo, 2021;Merce et al, 2023) have also been reported by others. These factors may also be involved in children's and youth's well-being.…”

How the COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures reduce physical activity among children and adolescents in the WHO European Region: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…A detailed description of the included publications is presented in Table 1 and AF 1 : Table S9. The included 26 publications are scattered across 14 WHO European Region countries: four from Spain [ 43 , 45 , 48 , 49 ], four from the United Kingdom [ 52 – 55 ], three from Germany [ 30 , 31 , 73 ], two from Croatia [ 25 , 71 ], two from Italy [ 34 , 35 ], two from Poland [ 39 , 72 ], two from Slovenia [ 41 , 42 ], and one each from Bosnia and Herzegovina [ 24 ], Czech Republic [ 29 ], Ireland [ 33 ], Netherlands [ 37 ], Portugal [ 40 ], Sweden [ 50 ] and Switzerland [ 51 ]. A graphical overview of how these studies are distributed is provided in AF 1 : Fig.…”

“…S2. TPA and MVPA were analyzed in 15 publications (TPA: [ 24 , 25 , 29 , 30 , 34 , 35 , 40 , 41 , 43 , 45 , 48 , 49 , 52 , 55 , 71 ], MVPA: [ 31 , 33 , 35 , 37 , 39 , 42 , 43 , 45 , 48 , 50 , 53 – 55 , 72 , 73 ]) respectively, and SA in three publications [ 31 , 51 , 73 ]. Self-reported data were collected in 20 analyses [ 24 , 25 , 29 – 31 , 33 – 35 , 39 – 42 , 49 – 53 , 71 – 73 ] and accelerometer data in six analyses [ 35 , 37 , 43 , 45 , 48 , 55 ].…”