Daily vigorous activity declined among adolescents in 34 regions, 2006–2018

A repeated cross-sectional analysis of Health Behaviour in School-aged Children surveys included 729,201 adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years across 34 countries or regions. Daily vigorous physical activity became less common between 2006 and 2018, while activity four to six times per week increased; patterns differed by sex and age.

Daily VPA fell from 19.5% to 16.5%.
VPA four to six times weekly increased.
Girls and older adolescents were less likely to report daily VPA.
Analysis covered 34 countries or regions across four surveys.

Researchers analyzed Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey data collected in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 from adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years in the same 34 countries or regions. The balanced sample included 729,201 participants; the primary complete-case analysis covered 700,039. Vigorous physical activity (VPA) frequency was assessed across seven categories, from never to every day, using survey-weighted models that accounted for sampling design and country or region.

The proportion reporting daily VPA fell from 19.5% in 2006 to 16.5% in 2018. Meanwhile, reporting VPA four to six times per week rose from 21.4% to 24.8%. Compared with 2006, the relative risk ratio for daily VPA versus never was 0.83 (95% CI 0.80–0.86) in 2018. Girls had a lower relative likelihood of daily VPA than boys (RRR 0.38, 95% CI 0.37–0.39); 13- and 15-year-olds also had lower likelihoods than 11-year-olds.

The distribution shifted rather than showing a uniform rise or fall in activity frequency. The findings support ongoing surveillance that retains frequency categories and examines differences by sex and age. This observational analysis relies on repeated cross-sectional survey data and does not establish why activity patterns changed. The study was supported by Chinese education and sports grants; authors declared no competing interests.

AI summary · Not yet editor-reviewed

Is this summary clinically accurate?

Help fellow clinicians: your rating sends inaccurate summaries straight to our editors.

Source

BMC Public Health: Changes in the frequency of vigorous physical activity across four survey cycles: analyses of 12-year repeated cross-sectional surveys of 729,201 adolescents ↗

This is an automated AI-condensed summary that has not yet been reviewed by an editor. Always consult the full item at the original source.