Individualized accelerometer-based physical activity assessment reports from ACTI-study in Portuguese children from a rural area
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abstract
Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles have become a public health problem in developed countries, by increasing the prevalence of hypokinetic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and obesity (Magalhães et al., 2023; Teixeira et al., 2022). The Portuguese population, specifically children and young people, are no exception to the trend and have some of the highest values of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior in the European community (Vasques et al., 2014). Thus, the aim of the ACTI-study was to assess the physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) levels in 5th and 9th grade children and young people from Alfândega da Fé (Bragança, Portugal). In addition, it is intend to understand if Portuguese children from rural areas comply with the minimum recommendations for PA practice, specifically the average of 60 minutes of activity per day. For this, an observational cross-sectional research was conducted between September 2022 and January 2023. The ACTI -study evaluated the moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels in students (age 10-16) from a high school in a Portuguese Northeast rural town. The PA assessment were conducted a hip-worn accelerometer (ActiGraph®, either GT3X or GT1M), on an elastic belt, for seven consecutive days (including weekend) (Vasques et al., 2023). Body mass index (BMI) was computed by dividing weight (kg) by height (m2) (Magalhães et al., 2023; Vasques et al., 2014). The average daily time spent at each intensity level during the week was 707 minutes (low level), 880 minutes (moderate), 24 minutes (vigorous); 1 minute (very vigorous). Regarding the 60 minutes of MVPA per day, the accelerometer data show that there were only one day where the values did not met that cut value: (1) Monday (136 minutes), (2) Tuesday (112 minutes), Wednesday (97 minutes), Thursday (58 minutes), Friday (128 minutes), Saturday (102 minutes) and Sunday (95 minutes). Thus, it is possible to conclude that in contrast to the trends of previous national and international epidemiological reports, the sampled rural children showed adequate levels of PA practice (Di Cesare et al., 2019). More so, when it refers to the crucial MVPA levels. Future investigations should focus on SB levels and expand the individualized accelerometer-based physical activity assessment reports for overall population.
