Abstract
BackgroundOne of the strategic actions identified in the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (PA) 2018–2030 is the enhancement of data systems and capabilities at national levels to support regular population surveillance of PA. Although national and international standardized surveillance of PA among children and adolescents has increased in recent years, challenges for the global surveillance of PA persist. The aims of this paper were to: (i) review, compare, and discuss the methodological inconsistencies in children and adolescents’ physical activity prevalence estimates from intercontinental physical activity surveillance initiatives; (ii) identify methodological limitations, surveillance and research gaps.MethodsIntercontinental physical activity surveillance initiatives for children and adolescents were identified by experts and through non-systematic literature searches. Prevalence of meeting PA guidelines by country, gender, and age were extracted when available. A tool was created to assess the quality of the included initiatives. Methods and PA prevalence were compared across data/studies and against the methodological/validity/translation differences.ResultsEight intercontinental initiatives were identified as meeting the selection criteria. Methods and PA definition inconsistencies across and within included initiatives were observed, resulting in different estimated national prevalence of PA, and initiatives contradicting each other’s cross-country comparisons. Three findings were consistent across all eight initiatives: insufficient level of PA of children and adolescents across the world; lower levels of PA among girls; and attenuation of PA levels with age. Resource-limited countries, younger children, children and adolescents not attending school, with disability or chronic conditions, and from rural areas were generally under/not represented.ConclusionsThere are substantial inconsistencies across/within included initiatives, resulting in varying estimates of the PA situation of children and adolescents at the global, regional and national levels. The development of a new PA measurement instrument that would be globally accepted and harmonized is a global health priority to help improve the accuracy and reliability of global surveillance.
Highlights
One of the strategic actions identified in the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (PA) 2018–2030 is the enhancement of data systems and capabilities at national levels to support regular population surveillance of PA
Three findings were consistent across all eight initiatives: insufficient level of PA of children and adolescents across the world; lower levels of PA among girls; and attenuation of PA levels with age
Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), [7] the World HealthOrganization (WHO) published the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030 to provide guidance to support the implementation of national multi-sectoral PA actions and set a specific target of a 15% relative reduction in the global prevalence of physical inactivity in adults and adolescents [8]
Summary
One of the strategic actions identified in the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (PA) 2018–2030 is the enhancement of data systems and capabilities at national levels to support regular population surveillance of PA. One of the strategic actions identified in the Global Action Plan is the enhancement of data systems and capabilities at national levels to support regular population surveillance of PA. Over the past 20 years, several questionnaires and surveys [9–15] have been developed in part to estimate the PA levels of children and adolescents Several of these questionnaires have been used in large scale international studies to estimate population levels of PA in a standardized way and to allow for comparisons across countries, regions, and studies [12, 13, 15–18]. Other types of international initiatives, including syntheses of all available evidence on the levels of PA of children and adolescents within and between nations, [19, 20] and the harmonization of accelerometer data with the aim of obtaining standardized PA prevalence estimates, [21, 22]
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