Accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior in Chinese children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To synthesize evidence on accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB) levels of Chinese children and adolescents.

Study design: This is both a systematic review and meta-analysis study.

Methods: Online databases were searched for studies published from January 2009 up to February 2019. These studies reported accelerometer-measured daily minutes of MVPA and/or SB among Chinese children and adolescents. Random-effects meta-analysis was used to separately pool the time spent in MVPA and SB.

Results: Of 4754 records, 20 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Sample sizes ranged from 96 to 2163. The meta-analysis showed that Chinese children and adolescents spent 41.11 min/day in MVPA and 529.83 min/day in SB averagely. Boys spent more time in MVPA compared with girls (P = 0.01). Children accumulated more MVPA time than adolescents (P = 0.05), and children spent less time in SB than adolescents (P = 0.05). Unlike weekdays, SB was lower on weekends (P = 0.02). There were significant differences in children and adolescents' MVPA time in regions (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: MVPA level in Chinese children and adolescents is well below international recommendations, and their SB level is very high.

Keywords: Accelerometery; Physical activity; Sedentary behavior.