Surveillance of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in czech children and adolescents: a scoping review of the literature from the past two decades

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to map the available evidence related to physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) in Czech children and adolescents and suggest future directions and improvements to strengthen the surveillance of PA and SB in the Czech Republic.

METHODS

The search of articles published between January 2000 and December 2020 included the Medline and Medvik databases and a manual search in eight Czech journals related to the topic. This review followed the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews".

RESULTS

Out of 350 identified articles, 79 articles met the criteria for selection and referred to 27 studies. The majority of the articles were cross-sectional (89%), approximately two-thirds of the articles (61%) examined only PA, and half of the articles (51%) employed device-based assessments. Approximately 47% of the articles reported the prevalence of physical inactivity on the basis of inconsistently defined recommendations. Approximately 14%, 23%, and 10% of the articles focused on active transportation, organized PA (including physical education or leisure-time PA), and parent-child PA, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Future studies need to focus on longitudinal design and interventions, randomly selected samples, a mix of device-based and self-reported methods, and the recognition of health-related 24-hour time use patterns. This review advocates the government-supported development of a national surveillance system that will help to reduce insufficient PA and excessive SB.

Prevalence and correlates of adherence to the combined movement guidelines among Czech children and adolescents

Background

There are limited studies on the prevalence of adherence to the combined guidelines for physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and sleep in children and adolescents. Moreover, little is known about correlates of adherence to the guidelines. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to examine the prevalence and identify the correlates of adherence to the combined movement guidelines among children and adolescents.

Methods

A total of 355 children aged 8–13 years (44% boys) and 324 adolescents aged 14–18 years (43% boys) from the Czech Republic participated in this study. PA and sleep duration were estimated using multi-day 24-h raw data from wrist-worn accelerometers. Recreational screen time was parent proxy-reported in children and self-reported in adolescents. Seventeen potential correlates were grouped into three homogenous categories for biological and cognitive, behavioral, and family correlates. The multi-level multivariable logistic regression was applied to identify correlates of adherence to combined movement guidelines and to specific combinations of any of two recommendations.

Results

Approximately 6.5% of children and 2.2% of adolescents met all recommendations of the combined movement guidelines. In children, girls (OR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.1–0.9) and participants with overweight or obese fathers (OR = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.1–0.7) had significantly lower odds of adherence to the combined movement guidelines. Additionally, children had higher odds of meeting specific combinations of two recommendations if they reported regular fruit and vegetable intake, participated in organized PA, or if their fathers had a university degree. Meanwhile, paternal overweight and obesity, and high sleep efficiency were associated with lower odds of meeting specific combinations of recommendations. In adolescents, sex, fruit and vegetable intake, organized PA, and active play were correlates of meeting specific combinations of any two recommendations.

Conclusions

A low proportion of children and adolescents met the combined movement guidelines and several correlates related to family were identified. Family is a key source of influence for healthy movement behaviors during childhood and adolescence.