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Global effect of COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep among 3- to 5-year-old children: a longitudinal study of 14 countries

Okely AD 1 , Kariippanon KE 2 , Guan H 3 , Taylor EK 4 , Suesse T 5 , Cross PL 4 Show all authors , Chong KH 4 , Suherman A 6 , Turab A 7 , Staiano AE 8 , Ha AS 9 , El Hamdouchi A 10 , Baig A 7 , Poh BK 11 , Del Pozo-Cruz B 12 , Chan CHS 9 , Nyström CD 13 , Koh D 14 , Webster EK 15 , Lubree H 16 , Tang HK 17 , Baddou I 10 , Del Pozo-Cruz J 18 , Wong JE 11 , Sultoni K 6 , Nacher M 4 , Löf M 19 , Cui M 3 , Hossain MS 20 , Chathurangana PWP 21 , Kand U 16 , Wickramasinghe VPP 21 , Calleia R 4 , Ferdous S 20 , Van Kim T 17 , Wang X 3 , Draper CE 22

Affiliations 

  • 1 Early Start, School of Health and Society, Faculty of the Arts, Social Science and Humanities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia. [email protected]
  • 2 Early Start, School of Health and Society, Faculty of the Arts, Social Science and Humanities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
  • 3 Department of Early Childhood Development, Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Child Development and Nutriomics, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China
  • 4 Early Start, Faculty of the Arts, Social Science and Humanities, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
  • 5 NIASRA - National Institute for Applied Statistics Research Australia, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
  • 6 Faculty of Sport and Health Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
  • 7 Precision Health Consultants (PHC Global), Karachi, Pakistan
  • 8 Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Rd Baton Rouge Louisiana, Pennington, 70808, USA
  • 9 Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
  • 10 Unité Mixte de Recherche Nutrition et Alimentation, CNESTEN - Université Ibn Tofail (URAC-39), Regional Designated Center of Nutrition Associated with AFRA/IAEA, Pennington, USA
  • 11 Centre for Community Health Studies (ReaCH), Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 50300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 12 Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Centre for Active and Healthy Ageing, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  • 13 Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, 14183, Huddinge, Sweden
  • 14 Centre of Community Education and Well-being, Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM, Bangi, Malaysia
  • 15 Institute of Public and Preventive Health, Augusta University, 1120 15th Street, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA
  • 16 Vadu Rural Health Program, KEM Hospital Research Centre, Rasta Peth, Pune, India
  • 17 Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • 18 Departamento de Educación Física y Deporte, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
  • 19 Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, 581 83, Linköping, Sweden
  • 20 Biomedical Research Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 21 Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • 22 SAMRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, Witwatersrand, South Africa
BMC Public Health, 2021 05 17;21(1):940.
PMID: 34001086 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-10852-3

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The restrictions associated with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in changes to young children's daily routines and habits. The impact on their participation in movement behaviours (physical activity, sedentary screen time and sleep) is unknown. This international longitudinal study compared young children's movement behaviours before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: Parents of children aged 3-5 years, from 14 countries (8 low- and middle-income countries, LMICs) completed surveys to assess changes in movement behaviours and how these changes were associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveys were completed in the 12 months up to March 2020 and again between May and June 2020 (at the height of restrictions). Physical activity (PA), sedentary screen time (SST) and sleep were assessed via parent survey. At Time 2, COVID-19 factors including level of restriction, environmental conditions, and parental stress were measured. Compliance with the World Health Organizations (WHO) Global guidelines for PA (180 min/day [≥60 min moderate- vigorous PA]), SST (≤1 h/day) and sleep (10-13 h/day) for children under 5 years of age, was determined.

RESULTS: Nine hundred- forty-eight parents completed the survey at both time points. Children from LMICs were more likely to meet the PA (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AdjOR] = 2.0, 95%Confidence Interval [CI] 1.0,3.8) and SST (AdjOR = 2.2, 95%CI 1.2,3.9) guidelines than their high-income country (HIC) counterparts. Children who could go outside during COVID-19 were more likely to meet all WHO Global guidelines (AdjOR = 3.3, 95%CI 1.1,9.8) than those who were not. Children of parents with higher compared to lower stress were less likely to meet all three guidelines (AdjOR = 0.5, 95%CI 0.3,0.9).

CONCLUSION: PA and SST levels of children from LMICs have been less impacted by COVID-19 than in HICs. Ensuring children can access an outdoor space, and supporting parents' mental health are important prerequisites for enabling pre-schoolers to practice healthy movement behaviours and meet the Global guidelines.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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