Tracking of total sedentary time and sedentary patterns in youth: a pooled analysis using the International Children\u2019s Accelerometry Database (ICAD)

On Behalf Of The International Children’s Accelerometry Database (Icad) Collaborators ,Evi Van Ekris,Jos Twisk,Lars B Andersen,Katrien Wijndaele,Andrew J Atkin,Luis B Sardinha,Kathleen F Janz,Esther M F Van Sluijs,Angie S Page,Kate Northstone,Teatske M Altenburg,Karsten Froberg,Mai Chinapaw

doi:10.1186/s12966-020-00960-5

Abstract

BackgroundTo gain more understanding of the potential health effects of sedentary time, knowledge is required about the accumulation and longitudinal development of young people’s sedentary time. This study examined tracking of young peoples’ total and prolonged sedentary time as well as their day-to-day variation using the International Children’s Accelerometry Database.MethodsLongitudinal accelerometer data of 5991 children (aged 4-17y) was used from eight studies in five countries. Children were included if they provided valid (≥8 h/day) accelerometer data on ≥4 days, including ≥1 weekend day, at both baseline and follow-up (average follow-up: 2.7y; range 0.7–8.2). Tracking of total and prolonged (i.e. ≥10-min bouts) sedentary time was examined using multilevel modelling to adjust for clustering of observations, with baseline levels of sedentary time as predictor and follow-up levels as outcome. Standardized regression coefficients were interpreted as tracking coefficients (low: < 0.3; moderate: 0.3–0.6; high: > 0.6).ResultsAverage total sedentary time at study level ranged from 246 to 387 min/day at baseline and increased annually by 21.4 min/day (95% confidence interval [19.6–23.0]) on average. This increase consisted almost entirely of prolonged sedentary time (20.9 min/day [19.2–22.7]). Total (standardized regression coefficient (B) = 0.48 [0.45–0.50]) and prolonged sedentary time (B = 0.43 [0.41–0.45]) tracked moderately. Tracking of day-to-day variation in total (B = 0.04 [0.02–0.07]) and prolonged (B = 0.07 [0.04–0.09]) sedentary time was low.ConclusionYoung people with high levels of sedentary time are likely to remain among the people with highest sedentary time as they grow older. Day-to-day variation in total and prolonged sedentary time, however, was rather variable over time.

Highlights

To gain more understanding of the potential health effects of sedentary time, knowledge is required about the accumulation and longitudinal development of young people’s sedentary time
Data from 14,098 participants was available at baseline, of which 11,284 participants (80%) had valid baseline accelerometer data
A day-to-day variation in total sedentary time of 41 min can be interpreted as, children’s daily time spent sedentary varied by 41 min from their mean weekly sedentary time

Summary

Introduction

To gain more understanding of the potential health effects of sedentary time, knowledge is required about the accumulation and longitudinal development of young people’s sedentary time. In order to gain more understanding of potential health effects of sedentary time, more knowledge is needed about the accumulation of sedentary time and how levels of sedentary time evolve over time. Childhood may be a critical period for the development of sedentary behaviour habits [4, 9]. This highlights the need for a better understanding of how young people’s sedentary time tracks longitudinally. People are likely to retain their rank for sedentary time within the population over time

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion