Physical Activity of Children: A Global Matrix of Grades Comparing 15 Countries

Abstract

The Active Healthy Kids Canada (AHKC) Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth has been effective in powering the movement to get kids moving by influencing priorities, policies, and practice in Canada. The AHKC Report Card process was replicated in 14 additional countries from 5 continents using 9 common indicators (Overall Physical Activity, Organized Sport Participation, Active Play, Active Transportation, Sedentary Behavior, Family and Peers, School, Community and Built Environment, and Government Strategies and Investments), a harmonized process and a standardized grading framework. The 15 Report Cards were presented at the Global Summit on the Physical Activity of Children in Toronto on May 20, 2014. The consolidated findings are summarized here in the form of a global matrix of grades. There is a large spread in grades across countries for most indicators. Countries that lead in certain indicators lag in others. Overall, the grades for indicators of physical activity (PA) around the world are low/poor. Many countries have insufficient information to assign a grade, particularly for the Active Play and Family and Peers indicators. Grades for Sedentary Behaviors are, in general, better in low income countries. The Community and Built Environment indicator received high grades in high income countries and notably lower grades in low income countries. There was a pattern of higher PA and lower sedentary behavior in countries reporting poorer infrastructure, and lower PA and higher sedentary behavior in countries reporting better infrastructure, which presents an interesting paradox. Many surveillance and research gaps and weaknesses were apparent. International cooperation and cross-fertilization is encouraged to tackle existing challenges, understand underlying mechanisms, derive innovative solutions, and overcome the expanding childhood inactivity crisis.

Relationships between active school transport and adiposity indicators in school-age children from low-, middle- and high-income countries

“…Both countries are non-car-dependent for different reasons; in Finland, by choice and in Colombia by need owing to low motor-vehicle availability. 43 This study has several strengths, including a large international sample of children from 12 sites in five continents with different environmental and socioeconomic settings, multiple direct measures of adiposity and standardized instruments and rigorous training protocols to ensure the comparability among sites. 20 Nonetheless, our findings should be interpreted cautiously considering the following limitations.…”

Screen time between Portuguese and Brazilian children: a cross-cultural study

“…Recently, a systematic review described the methodological characteristics and assessed variables associated with SB among Brazilian children and adolescents and identified a great number of cross-sectional studies around the country 42 . Besides a global matrix comparing 15 countries suggest that SB in general are better in low-income countries 9 , we found high ST values (Girls: 3.36 ± 1.83; Boys: 4.2 ± 2.28 h/day; p<0.05) and prevalence of ST ≥2 h/day (Girls: 81.0%; Boys: 76.4%). Despite that, our data seems to be in accordance with recent studies.…”

“…However, it seems that a single strategy to reduce sedentary behavior measured by accelerometer 27 and ST may be unlikely to be effective across many countries 1 . Guidelines or recommendations are not common in developing countries yet and it seems that public health messages about limiting ST, in particular, may be important as there are changes in lifestyles occurring throughout all over the world 9 . Additionally, in Portuguese schoolchildren, the prevalence of overweight is high 28,29 ,around 30.0% [30][31][32] and it is among the highest in Europe 31 .…”

“…from a global matrix comparing 15 countries suggested that when SB was high, physical activity (PA) levels are lower, along with a significant global variation in SB 9 , suggesting that international comparisons can illustrate potentially important patterns and trends on SB 9 . The current globalized society, unhealthy behaviors can easily be set up in the person's lifestyle.…”

Prevalencia y tendencias de actividad física en niños y adolescentes: resultados de Ensanut 2012 y Ensanut MC 2016

“…Estos datos son similares a los reportados en otros países como Colombia y Mozambique. 31 Esto puede estar relacionado con la falta de espacio, instalaciones, oportunidades, equipo y recursos humanos dentro de los planteles escolares, 26,31 lo que dificulta que los niños puedan realizar actividades organizadas o deportes durante el horario escolar. Además, muchas de las escuelas en México tienen dos turnos, lo que reduce las oportunidades para realizar actividad física extraescolar.…”