Physical Activity Levels of Preschoolers in Korea

Abstract

PURPOSE:To determine the physical activity (PA) levels utilizing objective measures for preschoolers in Korea. METHODS: A total of 464 children (aged 4-7yrs, 258 boys, & 206 girls) was participated (Height: boys 111.49±9.03cm, girls 110.82±8.33cm & Weight: boys 20.95±5.62kg, girls 19.98±4.23kg). Each child was wearing an accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X, USA) and a pedometer (Omron HJ-720IT, JAPAN) for 7 consecutive days (at least 10 hours per day) in free-living including weekdays (WD) and weekends (WK). Descriptive analysis (mean±SD) was calculated to determine the walking steps measured by the pedometers and PA levels (min) measured by the accelerometers, which was including sedentary(SD), light(LT), moderate(MD) and vigorous (VG) intensities. Utilizing IBM SPSS 20.0, one-way ANOVA and t-test were applied to examine group differences of gender, age, and type of day with Scheffe post-hoc (α=.05) when it needs. RESULTS: Walking steps by gender (boy 6052.39±2547.61 vs. girl 5806.41±2518.22) and ages (4yrs 5611.70±2085.04, 5yrs 5883.04±2527.52, 6yrs 5779.05±2667.83, 7yrs 6393.13±2813.56, p>.05) did not showed statistical differences. By activity intensifies, SD (included sleeping time; boy 1144.07±132.31 vs. girl 1110.35±153.61), LT(boy 86.66±29.47 vs. girl 99.60±28.44), and VG(boy 8.51±5.83 vs. girl 7.38±4.84) activity showed gender differences (t=-4.77∼2.23, p<.05), but not on MD (boy 179.07±66.01 vs. girl 187.17±62.56). By age, SD and VG(4yrs 8.85±5.50, 5yrs 6.43±4.72, 6yrs 7.36±4.84, & 7yrs 8.76±5.89) showed statistical difference (F=5.030∼5.604, p6yrs, VG: 4 & 7>5yrs. Nevertheless, LT(4rs 90.88±30.32, 5yrs 94.17±30.47, 6yrs 94.27±30.71, & 7yrs 91.56±28.11) and MD(4yrs 184.67±62.72, 5yrs 176.45±66.77, 6yrs 190.58±71.60, 7yrs 181.48±60.86) activity did not show statistical difference. The type of day, walking steps (WD 5742.45±2294.50 vs. WK 6531.75±3071.51, t=-2.945, p<.01) and SD(WD 1119.16±153.06 vs. WK 1158.26±103.36, t=-2.581, p<.01) showed statistical differences. CONCLUSIONS: walking steps of Preschoolers in Korea were not different between genders or among ages. Even though moderate intensity was not different by gender or age, overall PA levels were increased from 5yrs to 7yrs except for 4yrs. Note: Supported by Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-2011-G00082) & Seoul City. Corresponding: Miyoung Lee