Measured sedentary time and physical activity during the school day of European 10- to 12-year-old children: the ENERGY project.
OBJECTIVES
This study aims to describe the time devoted to sedentary and physical activities at school in five European countries and to examine differences according to country, sex, ethnicity, parental education and weight status.


DESIGN
cross-European cross-sectional survey.


METHODS
Primary schoolchildren (n=1025) aged 10-12 years in Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Switzerland wore accelerometers for at least six consecutive days. Only weekdays were used for this study to calculate the percentages of school-time spent in sedentary activities and moderate to vigorous intensity activity. Trained research assistants measured height and weight. Sex and date of birth were self-reported by the child and parental education and ethnicity were parent-reported.


RESULTS
European schoolchildren spent on average 65% of their time at school in sedentary activities and 5% on moderate to vigorous intensity activities, with small differences between countries. Girls spent a significant larger amount of school-time in sedentary activities (67%) than boys (63%; p<0.0001), and spent less time in moderate to vigorous intensity activities (4% versus 5%; p<0.001). Overweight children spent significantly less time in moderate to vigorous intensity activities (4%) than normal weight children (5%,p < 0.01) [corrected]. Parental education or ethnicity were not associated with time spent in sedentary or physical activities.


CONCLUSIONS
European schoolchildren spend a small amount of their school-time in moderate to vigorous intensity activities and a large amount in sedentary activities, with small but significant differences across countries. Future interventions should target more physical activities and less sedentary time at school particularly in girls.
['van Stralen|Maartje M|MM|', 'Yıldırım|Mine|M|', 'Wulp|Anouk|A|', 'te Velde|Saskia J|SJ|', 'Verloigne|Maïté|M|', 'Doessegger|Alain|A|', 'Androutsos|Odysseas|O|', 'Kovács|Éva|É|', 'Brug|Johannes|J|', 'Chinapaw|Mai J M|MJ|']
D056044:Actigraphy D001530:Belgium D015992:Body Mass Index D001835:Body Weight D002648:Child D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D004522:Educational Status D005006:Ethnicity D005260:Female D006115:Greece D006801:Humans D006814:Hungary D008297:Male D009043:Motor Activity D009426:Netherlands D009765:Obesity D010290:Parents D012574:Schools D012737:Sex Factors D013557:Switzerland D013997:Time Factors
Sedentary Adolescent Behaviour Correlates Europe Exercise