Compliance of children in northern France with physical activity recommendations

Abstract

This study examined the compliance of French children with physical activity (PA) guidelines, using objective assessments of PA. The study involved 252 children aged 9.9 +/- 0.9 years, with mean height and weight of 1.39 +/- 0.08 m and 35.8 +/- 8.8 kg, respectively. Their usual PA was evaluated during a week using an Actigraph accelerometer. The time spent in a moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) ranged from 142 +/- 44 min x d(-1) to 25 +/- 18 min/day according to the cut-offs used. Boys were significantly more active than girls (p < or = .001). Overweight/obese children spent significantly less time in MVPA as determined with cut-off points at 3200 cpm (-26%) or 3600 cpm (-35%) (p < .01). Between 5% (8% of boys vs 1% of girls, p < .0001) and 9% (14% of boys vs 3% of girls, p < .0001) of children probably met the PA guidelines. No relationships were found with socioeconomic status. This high proportion of insufficiently active children (> 90%), together with the relatively high proportion of overweight children in this area, advocates a more aggressive PA promotion project, which should target all children whatever their social origins.