Accelerometer measured physical activity patterns of children during segmented school day in Abu Dhabi

Abstract

Background The overwhelming majority of United Arab Emirates (UAE) school-aged children do not meet the 60 min per day recommendation of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Understanding the different school day segments contribution to children reaching this goal is a crucial step toward developing successful strategies to promote school day MVPA levels. This study aimed to objectively measure children’s’ physical activity levels and to examine the difference in physical activity levels between high active and low active children during the school day in Abu Dhabi. Methods A total of 133 school children (56% boys; mean age 10.5 years; grades 4–7) from two elementary schools in Abu Dhabi wore accelerometers (ActiGraph GT9X Link) for up to 5 non-consecutive days during spring 2019. Children’s’ MVPA was estimated during the following school segments: class time, lunch, recess, physical education (PE), and whole school day. Children were stratified as “high active” meeting the ≥30 min/day MVPA school time guideline or “low active” accumulating < 30 min/day MVPA. Results On average children accumulated 21.8 ± 22.6 min/day of MVPA on PE days and 22.4 ± 15.9 min/day of MVPA on non-PE days. Only 19% of children met the 30 min or more of school day MVPA recommendation, with higher proportion of boys (27%) meeting such recommendation compared to girls (8%). High active boys, spent the highest percent of time in MVPA during PE (28%), followed closely by lunch (27%). In compression, high active girls spent the highest percent of time in MVPA during lunch (14.2%) followed by recess (9.1%). High active children accumulated 15.06 more minutes of MVPA during PE (p < 0.001), 2 more minutes during recess (p < 0.001), 3 more minutes of MVPA during lunch (p < 0.001) and 5 more minutes of MVPA during class time (p < 0.001). Conclusion The overwhelming majority of school children did not meet the recommended 30 min /day MVPA during school time. Girls substantially accumulated less MVPA and more sedentary minutes across all segments during the school days compared to boys. Further research is needed to investigate school day segments contribution to children MVPA in the UAE.

The effect of lockdowns and distant learning on the health-related behaviours of school students in the United Arab Emirates

“…In the UAE, according to the 2018 Report Card on Physical Activity, only 16% of UAE children achieve the daily physical activity recommendation of more than or equal to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) across age groups and sexes [ 11 ]. According to a study conducted in Abu Dhabi in 2019, the majority of boys and girls are not meeting the recommendation of 30 min/day of MVPA during the school day, with girls accumulating less activity and more sedentary minutes than boys [ 12 ]. This is expected to worsen with lockdowns and home schooling.…”

La actividad física en escolares de primaria: cumplimiento de las recomendaciones y contribución del recreo escolar (Physical activity in elementary school children: compliance with recommendations and the contribution of the school recess)

“…Se trata de resultados similares a los encontrados en estudios realizados en otros países, ya que el alumnado realiza promedios superiores de AFMV entre semana que en fin de semana (McLellan, et al, 2020;Zhang, Li, et al, 2020). Aun así, en el estudio de Ajja et al (2021), los escolares realizaron más AFMV en fin de semana que entre semana, si bien con tiempos menores (21.8 y 22.4 minutos respectivamente). Curiosamente, en el presente artículo interactúa significativamente el tipo de día semanal con el género, de manera que las niñas acumulaban 11 minutos más de AFMV el fin de semana que los mientras que estos acumulaban 4 minutos más que las niñas entre semana.…”

“…Durante los 30 minutos que dura el recreo escolar, el alumnado participante dedica una media de 5.48 minutos a la AFMV. Se trata de un tiempo que se encuentra entre los 3.6 minutos del estudio de McLellan et al (2020) y los 7 minutos del estudio de Wang (2018), quedando más lejos de los 2.4 minutos del estudio de Ajja et al (2021). En el presente trabajo no se observan diferencias significativas en la AFMV por género durante el recreo, si bien en los otros consultados las diferencias significativas se inclinan a favor de los niños (Ajja, et al, 2021;McLellan, et al, 2020;Wang, 2018).…”

“…Las nuevas directrices de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) (2020) recomiendan, por lo que respecta a la AF, un promedio mínimo de 60 minutos al día de actividad física de intensidad moderada a vigorosa (AFMV) para los infantes y adolescentes. A pesar del creciente reconocimiento de los beneficios para la salud asociados con la AF regular, la evidencia científica señala que la mayoría de los niños y jóvenes no cumplen con la directriz actual (Ajja, et al, 2021;Stylianou, et al, 2022). Otros estudios señalan que las escuelas ofrecen la posibilidad de promocionar la AF entre el alumnado (Yuksel, et al, 2020).…”

Methods recently used for the assessment of physical activity in children and adolescents

“…Although accelerometry has been present for several decades as a method for evaluating PA [17], currently, technologically updated versions continue to be used for the PA assessing in children [18,19]. Accelerometry, mainly ActiGraph models are one of the most commonly used and accepted methods to assess PA in school-age children [20], as in preschool [21 ▪▪ ].…”