Socioeconomic disparities in physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep patterns among 6‐ to 9‐year‐old children from 24 countries in the WHO European region

Abstract

Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep are important predictors of children's health. This paper aimed to investigate socioeconomic disparities in physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep across the WHO European region. This cross-sectional study used data on 124,700 children aged 6 to 9 years from 24 countries participating in the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative between 2015 and 2017. Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured through parental education, parental employment status, and family perceived wealth. Overall, results showed different patterns in socioeconomic disparities in children's movement behaviors across countries. In general, high SES children were more likely to use motorized transportation. Low SES children were less likely to participate in sports clubs and more likely to have more than 2 h/day of screen time. Children with low parental education had a 2.24 [95% CI 1.94-2.58] times higher risk of practising sports for less than 2 h/week.In the pooled analysis, SES was not significantly related to active play. The relationship between SES and sleep varied by the SES indicator used. Importantly, resultsshowed that low SES is not always associated with a higher prevalence of "less healthy" behaviors. There is a great diversity in SES patterns across countries which supports the need for country-specific, targeted public health interventions.

Associations between socioeconomic status and physical activity: A cross-sectional analysis of Chinese children and adolescents

“…The public health challenge of insufficient physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents has been well documented ( Music Milanovic et al, 2021 ). Not getting enough physical activity can raise the risk of developing many non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancers ( Lona et al, 2021 ).…”

“…A number of studies have shown that physical activity can improve emotional and cognitive abilities and reduce depression and anxiety symptoms ( Borland et al, 2022 ), also enhance the experience of well-being in children and adolescents ( Lema-Gomez et al, 2021 ). Early childhood is a crucial period during which children have sufficient opportunities to develop healthy habits that could be maintained from adolescence to adulthood ( Music Milanovic et al, 2021 ). Despite the widely known benefits of physical activity, many young people do not meet recommended levels of physical activity.…”

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“…al. showed that 70.9% of children from families with low parental education spent less than 2 h/week on sports compared with 38.2% of children with high parental education [9]. Other important disparities in child and youth physical activity are connected to gender, ethnicity and physical or mental disability [10][11][12][13].…”

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“…The increasing tendency to a sedentary lifestyle and insufficient physical activity, even in childhood, in most high-income countries contributes to raise this issue [ 11 ]. In the last few decades, several studies have already documented that children and adolescents from most high-income countries have become less physically active and more sedentary [ 12 , 13 ]. Screen time behaviors, such as watching TV, playing videogames or using computers for other purposes, such as social media or surfing the internet, have all contributed to the overall increase in sedentary time.…”