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Published on: March 7, 2019
Meeting the 60-min physical activity guideline: effect of operationalization
Sanne I De Vries1, Marijke Hopman-Rock, Ingrid Bakker
1Department of Physical Activity and Health, TNO Quality of Life, Leiden, The Netherlands. sanne.devries@tno.nl
Insights
Meeting the 60-minute physical activity guideline for children varies greatly depending on how it is measured. Different intensity thresholds and measurement tools significantly impact results, highlighting the need for standardized methods.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physical activity research
- Public health guidelines
- Exercise science
Background:
- The 60-minute daily physical activity guideline is crucial for children's health.
- Current methods for assessing guideline adherence lack standardization.
- Variability in measurement approaches can lead to differing conclusions about children's activity levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how different operationalizations of the 60-minute physical activity guideline affect the proportion of children meeting it.
- To compare subjective (diary) and objective (accelerometer) assessment methods.
- To investigate the impact of intensity thresholds, bout duration, and assessment days on guideline adherence.
Main Methods:
- 521 children (6-11 years) completed physical activity diaries.
- A subsample of 51 children wore ActiGraph accelerometers.
- Calculated time spent above 3 and 5 METs in bouts of 1, 5, and 10 minutes.
- Assessed guideline adherence daily and on average.
Main Results:
- The proportion of children meeting the guideline varied widely (3%-86% diary; 0%-100% ActiGraph).
- Lower intensity thresholds (3 METs) and shorter bout durations yielded higher adherence rates.
- More children met the guideline on average compared to daily adherence.
- Boys were generally more active than girls.
Conclusions:
- Guideline adherence in children is highly dependent on the operationalization and assessment method used.
- Establishing consensus on guideline operationalization is essential for accurate population monitoring.
- Standardized methods are needed to enable reliable comparisons across studies.
Purpose:
To investigate the effect of guideline operationalization in terms of intensity threshold, bout duration, and days on the proportion of children meeting the health-related 60-min physical activity guideline using a subjective and an objective assessment method.
Methods:
Five hundred and twenty-one children (6-11 yr) completed a physical activity diary for at least 4 d. A subsample of 51 children simultaneously wore an ActiGraph (ActiGraph, Pensacola, FL) accelerometer. Time spent above moderate-intensity thresholds of 3 and 5 METs, respectively, for continuous bouts of at least 1, 5, and 10 min was calculated. For each intensity threshold and bout duration, the proportion of children meeting the 60-min guideline was calculated. A distinction was made between meeting the 60-min threshold on each assessment day and meeting this threshold on average across all assessment days.
Results:
The proportion of children meeting the 60-min guideline differed considerably by guideline operationalization and assessment method. It ranged from 3% to 86% using the diary and from 0% to 100% using the ActiGraph. Overall, a higher proportion of children met the guideline when the 3-MET intensity threshold was used compared with the 5-MET threshold and when a shorter bout duration was used compared with a longer bout duration. More children met the guideline on average across all assessment days compared with the guideline on each assessment day. In general, boys were found to be more active than girls, independent of guideline operationalization and assessment method.
Conclusion:
Meeting the 60-min guideline highly depends on guideline operationalization and assessment method. Consensus about how the guideline should be operationalized is needed to monitor the extent to which populations of children meet the guideline and to simplify comparison between studies.
