Temporal trends in physical activity levels across more than a decade – a national physical activity surveillance system among Norwegian children and adolescents
Steene-Johannessen, Jostein; Anderssen, Sigmund Alfred; Kolle, Elin; Hansen, Bjørge Hermann; Bratteteig, Mari; Dalhaug, Emilie Mass; Andersen, Lars Bo; Nystad, Wenche; Ekelund, Ulf; Dalene, Knut Eirik
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
![Thumbnail](/nih-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2833798/Steene-Johannessen%20IJBNPA%202021.pdf.jpg?sequence=9&isAllowed=y)
Date
2021Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- Artikler / Articles [2120]
- Publikasjoner fra Cristin [1108]
Original version
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2021, 18(2021), Artikkel 55. 10.1186/s12966-021-01120-zAbstract
Background: There is a scarcity of device measured data on temporal changes in physical activity (PA) in large population-based samples. The purpose of this study is to describe gender and age-group specific temporal trends in device measured PA between 2005, 2011 and 2018 by comparing three nationally representative samples of children and adolescents.
Methods: Norwegian children and adolescents (6, 9 and 15-year-olds) were invited to participate in 2005 (only 9-and 15-year-olds), 2011 and 2018 through cluster sampling (schools primary sampling units). A combined sample of 9500 individuals participated. Physical activity was assessed by hip worn accelerometers, with PA indices including overall PA (counts per minute), moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA), and PA guideline adherence (achieving on average ≥ 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous PA). Random-effects linear regressions and logistic regressions adjusted for school-level clusters were used to analyse temporal trends.
Findings: In total, 8186 of the participating children and adolescents provided valid PA data. Proportions of sufficiently active 6-year-olds were almost identical in 2011 and 2018; boys 95% (95% CI: 92, 97) and 94% (95%CI: 92, 96) and girls 86% (95% CI: 83, 90) and 86% (95% CI: 82, 90). Proportions of sufficiently active 15-year-olds in 2005 and 2018 were 52% (95% CI: 46, 59) and 55% (95% CI: 48, 62) in boys, and 48% (95% CI: 42, 55) and 44% (95% CI: 37, 51) in girls, respectively, resulting from small differences in min/day of MVPA. Among 9-year-old boys and girls, proportions of sufficiently active declined between 2005 and 2018, from 90% (95% CI: 87, 93) to 84% (95% CI: 80, 87)) and 74% (95% CI: 69, 79) to 68% (95% CI: 64, 72), respectively. This resulted from 9.7 min/day less MVPA in boys (95% CI: − 14.8, − 4.7; p < 0.001) and 3.2 min/day less MVPA (95% CI: − 7.0, 0.7; p = 0.106) in girls.
Conclusions: PA levels have been fairly stable between 2005, 2011 and 2018 in Norwegian youth. However, the declining PA level among 9-year-old boys and the low proportion of 15-year-olds sufficiently active is concerning. To evaluate the effect of, and plan for new, PA promoting strategies, it is important to ensure more frequent, systematic, device-based monitoring of population-levels of PA.
Description
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.