Background: Accumulating sufficient moderate to vigorous physical activity is recognized as a key determinant of physical, physiological, developmental, mental, cognitive, and social health among children and youth (aged 5–17 y). The Global Matrix 3.0 of Report Card grades on physical activity was developed to achieve a better understanding of the global variation in child and youth physical activity and associated supports. Methods: Work groups from 49 countries followed harmonized procedures to develop their Report Cards by grading 10 common indicators using the best available data. The participating countries were divided into 3 categories using the United Nations’ human development index (HDI) classification (low or medium, high, and very high HDI). Results: A total of 490 grades, including 369 letter grades and 121 incomplete grades, were assigned by the 49 work groups. Overall, an average grade of “C-,” “D+,” and “C-” was obtained for the low and medium HDI countries, high HDI countries, and very high HDI countries, respectively. Conclusions: The present study provides rich new evidence showing that the situation regarding the physical activity of children and youth is a concern worldwide. Strategic public investments to implement effective interventions to increase physical activity opportunities are needed.

Background: To better understand the childhood physical inactivity crisis, Report Cards on physical activity of children and youth were prepared concurrently in 30 very high Human Development Index countries. The aim of this article was to present, describe, and compare the findings from these Report Cards. Methods: The Report Cards were developed using a harmonized process for data gathering, assessing, and assigning grades to 10 common physical activity indicators. Descriptive statistics were calculated after converting letter grades to interval variables, and correlational analyses between the 10 common indicators were performed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients. Results: A matrix of 300 grades was obtained with substantial variations within and between countries. Low grades were observed for behavioral indicators, and higher grades were observed for sources of influence indicators, indicating a disconnect between supports and desired behaviors. Conclusion: This analysis summarizes the level and context of the physical activity of children and youth among very high Human Development Index countries, and provides additional evidence that the situation regarding physical activity in children and youth is very concerning. Unless a major shift to a more active lifestyle happens soon, a high rate of noncommunicable diseases can be anticipated when this generation of children reaches adulthood.

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BackgroundRecent data from a self-administered questionnaire show that approximately 75% of school children in Qatar do not meet the daily recommended levels of physical activity (PA). Since children spend half of their waking hours in school, it is important to understand when and how much PA children accumulate during the school day. This study aimed to objectively assess school-time PA among elementary school children in Qatar and to determine association of PA with age, gender, body mass index (BMI) status, or day of the week.MethodsA cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted in four randomly selected elementary schools in Qatar. Two classes representing grade 1 children (age 5) and grade 4 children (age 9) were randomly selected within each school. A total of 183 elementary school children (86 boys and 97 girls) ages 6–12 years participated in this study. PA was assessed using a three-axial accelerometer (ActiGraph® wGT3X-BT). Participants wore accelerometers on their non-dominant wrist at school (7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) for five consecutive school days during the week. A cutoff points of 818 counts per 5 s was classified as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).ResultsThe average duration of MVPA in our study was 28.2 ± 13.5 min per day. Only 39% of participated children reach the recommended school-based MVPA of 30 min or more per day. Students spent on average 58.1 ± 8.4% of school time on sedentary activities. MVPA of boys and girls was similar in age 5 while girls age 9 were less active (23.7 ± 1.5 min/day) than boys of the same age (42.7 ± 1.8 min/day), ES = 0.269, P < 0.001. Neither overweight children nor children at risk for being overweight showed any differences in physical activity parameters when compared to children of normal weight. Our results showed, percentage of MVPA on the first (7.7 ± 5.1%) and last (7.1 ± 4.1%) day of the week was generally lower compared to other weekdays (P < 0.001).ConclusionThis was the first study to objectively assess PA during school hours among elementary school-children in Qatar. This study found that many of school children do not perform sufficient time being physically active at school. All students in two age categories (age 5 and age 9) spend the majority of school time engaged in sedentary activities. The low participation of girls age 9 in MVPA is a cause for concern and need to be addressed.

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