Abstract

View the most recent version.

Skip to text

Background
Keywords
Findings
Authors
What is already known on this subject?
What does this study add?

Text begins

Background

The accurate measurement of time devoted to physical activity, sedentary pursuits and sleep is difficult and varies considerably between surveys.  This has implications for population surveillance and understanding how these variables relate to health.

Methods

This sample of children (n = 878) was from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Moderate- to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sedentary behaviour and sleep duration were assessed using both a questionnaire and an accelerometer. This article compared parent-reported and directly measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep, and examined their associations, alone or in combination, with selected health markers in children aged 6 to 11.  

Results

According to parent reports, the children in this study had an average of 105 minutes of MVPA, 2.5 hours of screen time and 9.7 hours of sleep per day; accelerometers recorded 63 minutes of MVPA, 7.6 hours of sedentary time and 10.1 hours of sleep per day.  MVPA, measured by parent-report or accelerometry, was significantly associated with body mass index.  In a regression model, directly measured MVPA and sleep were significantly associated with body mass index, and directly measured MVPA was significantly associated with waist circumference.  Parent-reported screen time approached a significant association with body mass index. 

Interpretation

Time estimates and associations with health markers varied between parent-reported and directly measured physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep in children.  These differences are important to understand before the two measurement techniques can be used interchangeably in research and health surveillance.

Keywords

Blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol, data collection, health surveys, movement, obesity

Findings

Among Canadian children, obesity rates are high, physical fitness has decreased, and few meet current physical activity recommendations. Research focused on organized, purposeful moderateto- vigorous physical activity (MVPA) has tended to ignore sedentary behaviour and sleep, which are independently associated with obesity and other aspects of health. [Full Text]

Authors

Rachel C. Colley (613-737-7600 ext.4118; rcolley@cheo.on.ca) is with the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada.  Suzy L. Wong and Didier Garriguet are with the Health Analysis Division at Statistics Canada.  Ian Janssen is with Queen's University. Sarah Connor Gorber is with the Public Health Agency of Canada.  Mark S. Tremblay is with the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and the University of Ottawa.