Physical Activity Level and Sedentary Behaviors among Public School Children in Dakar (Senegal) Measured by PAQ-C and Accelerometer: Preliminary Results

Abstract

Background: Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles are major risk factors of childhood obesity. This study aimed to measure physical activity (PA) levels by accelerometer and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) among Senegalese school children and the relation with Body Mass Index (BMI) and body composition. Methodology: 156 pupils 8–11 years old were randomly selected in four elementary public schools of Dakar. BMI z-score was used to categorize children according to their weight status. PA was measured by PAQ-C in the 156 pupils and by accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X+, Pensacola, FL, USA) in a subsample of 42 children. Body composition was determined by deuterium dilution method. Results: PAQ-C results were comparable in the 156 and 42 pupils. The 42 pupils presented a light activity measured by accelerometer, while PAQ-C classified the majority of them (57%; n = 24) in the moderate PA level. Children spent most of their time (min/day) in sedentary activities and light activities than in moderate and intense activity levels. Accumulation of 60 min/day Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) was achieved by 54.8% (n = 23) of the pupils. MVPA decreased in girls in relation to their body fatness. There was a significant difference in MVPA between boys and girls. Similarly, overweight/obese (45 ± 16 min/day) children had lower MVPA than their normal and underweight peers (88 ± 34 and 74 ± 36 min/day, respectively; p = 0.004). Conclusions: The two methods are inconsistent for measuring light and moderate PA levels. Although PAQ-C is an uncomplicated routine method, various activities were not adapted for genuine activities in Senegalese children and therefore needs to be validated in African children.

Obesity and Body Composition in Preschool Children with Different Levels of Actigraphy-Derived Physical Activity—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In a study by Diouf et al, 90% of the children aged 8-11 years, who accumulated at least 60 min/day of MVPA were of normal or underweight status as categorized by BMI values. A small proportion of overweight/obese children met that recommendation [31]. Similar results have been reported from previous studies on school age children, indicating that overweight children are significantly less likely to practice PA than their normal weight and underweight peers [32][33][34].…”

Physical Activity Level Assessed by Accelerometer and PAQ-C in Tunisian Children

“…This finding supports the lack of agreement between the two methods. This result is in agreement with the Senegalese study which confirmed that the two methods of PA level assessment (accelerometer and PAQ-C) classify school children differently [26]. A Spanish study reported a low correlation (r = 0.228-0.278, p < 0.05) between PAQ-C and accelerometry [13].…”

“…In our study, 47.5% of children reached WHO recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous-activity (66.7% for boys and only 26.3% for girls). A similar result was reported by Diouf et al [26] who demonstrated that more than 50% of African children reach the recommendations of WHO.…”

“…Such findings are consistent with previous studies. In fact, Diouf et al [26], in Senegalese school children aged between 8 and 11 years, reported a PAQ-C score of 2.42 ± 0.85 which is sex-dependent; girls were more engaged in light activity than boys. A Canadian study showed a mean activity score PAQ-C of 2.8 ± 0.6; boys self-reported as significantly more active than girls [27].…”

Objectively Determined Physical Activity Levels in German Primary School Children after a One Year School-based Health Promoting Intervention

“…In this study, overweight children spent significantly more time in MVPA as well as reached the physical activity recommendations significantly more often than their normal weight counterparts. Very early findings have also shown higher levels of physical activity in overweight or obese children [73,74] whilst most of the recent studies [75][76][77] found the opposite and others [22,78] did not report any association between weight status and MVPA. However, in this sample only a very small proportion of children were classified as overweight or obese (3 and 3.6%, respectively) which is considerably less than the incidence of overweight and obesity in a representative national sample of 7 to 10 year old children (9 and 6.4%, respectively [79]).…”