The prevalence of sufficient physical activity among primary and high school students in Mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

This study aims to estimate the prevalence of sufficient physical activity (PA) for primary and high school students in China. This is a meta-analysis study. The literature search was carried out using both English and Chinese online databases, including articles published from January 2005 to May 2018. Statistical analyses were performed with STATA 13.0. Of 1439 articles initially retrieved, 18 studies met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of sufficient PA among Chinese students varied from 8.96% to 56.02%. With meta-analysis, the sufficient PA prevalence was 31.1% (27.1%-35.2%). Boys were more likely to achieve sufficient PA compared to girls (boys vs girls: 42.4% vs 31.5%, P<0.001), while urban students engaged in more sufficient PA than their rural counterparts (urban vs rural: 42.7% vs 38.5%, P<0.001). Primary school students spent more time in overall PA than junior (primary vs junior: 45.4% vs 40.6%, P<0.001) or senior high school students (primary vs senior: 45.4% vs 27.9%, P<0.001). Students tended to be more physically active on weekdays than weekends (weekdays vs weekend: 57.2% vs 45.2%, P<0.001). The prevalence of sufficient PA was 31% among Chinese students. Intervention campaigns are needed for promoting PA level among students in China.