Associations between Sociodemographic, Dietary, and Substance Use Factors with Self-Reported 24-Hour Movement Behaviors in a Sample of Brazilian Adolescents

Survey of the Adequacy of Brazilian Children and Adolescents to the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The 24-Hour Movement Guidelines provide specific recommendations on movement behaviors for children and adolescents. The objective of this study was to verify the adequacy of children and adolescents to the guidelines for moderate to vigorous physical activity, recreational screen time, and sleep duration, and the overall adequacy to the guidelines, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted with parents or guardians of children or adolescents from different regions of Brazil using a digital interview form including sociodemographic characteristics of families, moderate to vigorous physical activity, recreational screen time, and sleep duration before and during the pandemic. Statistically significant variation was observed in both groups in relation to moderate to vigorous physical activity and recreational screen time between the two periods evaluated. Overall adequacy to the guidelines before the pandemic was 19.28% for children from Group 1 (0-5 years old) and 39.50% for those from Group 2 (6 to 17 years old). During the pandemic, it corresponded to 3.58% in Group 1 and 4.94% in Group 2 (p-value between periods ≤0.001). This study showed the significant impact of pandemic restrictions on reducing overall compliance and physical activity, and increasing screen time among Brazilian children and adolescents.

Association between sociodemographic, dietary, and substance use factors and accelerometer-measured 24-hour movement behaviours in Brazilian adolescents

Sociodemographic factors and lifestyle behaviours were evidenced as correlates of self-reported 24-hour movement behaviours in high-income settings. However, it is unclear how these relations occur in a middle-income country setting, with unique cultural and social characteristics. This study aimed to examine the association between sociodemographic, dietary, and substance use factors with accelerometer-measured 24-hour movement behaviours in Brazilian adolescents. Information on sex, age, socioeconomic status (SES), family structure, dietary behaviours, and history of substance use were collected by a questionnaire. Sleep duration, sedentary behaviour, and light- and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (LPA and MVPA) were measured using wrist-worn accelerometers. On average, females slept more (β = 21.09, 95%CI 13.18; 28.98), engaged in more LPA (β = 17.60, 95%CI 8.50; 27.13), and engaged in less sedentary behaviour (β = -16.82, 95%CI -30.01; -4.30) and MVPA (β = -4.76, 95%CI -7.48; -1.96) than males. Age and sedentary behaviour were positively associated (β = 8.60, 95%CI 2.53; 14.64). Unprocessed foods were positively related to LPA (β = 2.21, 95%CI 0.55; 3.92), whereas processed foods were positively related to sedentary behaviour (β = 3.73, 95%CI 0.03; 7.38) and inversely related to MVPA (β = -0.89, 95%CI -1.68; -0.10). Family structure, SES, and substance use factors were not significantly associated with any 24-hour movement behaviour.Conclusions: Sex, age, and dietary behaviours, unlike SES or substance use, were associated with 24-hour movement behaviours in this sample of Brazilian adolescents and are important factors to consider in interventions, policies, and practice. What is Known: • The 24-hour movement behaviours are composed of sleep, sedentary behaviour, and physical activity and are important determinants of health. • Most adolescents do not engage in adequate levels of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep, and there is a need to better understand factors related to these behaviours. What is New: • Sex, age, and dietary behaviours were associated with the 24-hour movement behaviours. • No associations were found between socioeconomic status and substance use with the 24-hour movement behaviours.