Background: There is insufficient evidence of sitting time in UK children from validated objective measures. This study explored sitting patterns in primary school children from Bradford, UK, using the validated activPAL inclinometer. Methods: Overall, 79 children (9.8 (SD 0.3) years old, 52% boys; 70% South Asian) wore activPALs for 7 days. Total sitting time, sitting time accumulated in different bout lengths, and the proportion of wear time spent in these variables were explored and compared across different periods of the week. Results: Children spent 614 ± 112 (median ± IQR) min/day on school days and 690 ± 150 min/day on weekend days sitting. The proportion of time spent sitting was significantly higher on weekend days compared to school days (mean±SD: 74 ± 10% versus 68 ± 8%,P < 0.001), as was the proportion of time accumulated in >30 min sitting bouts (mean±CI: 28 ± 27-33% versus 20 ± 20-22%, P < 0.001). The proportion of time spent sitting after school was significantly higher than during school time (mean±SD: 70 ± 8.4% versus 63 ± 8.3%,P < 0.001), as was the proportion of time spent in prolonged (>30 min) sitting bouts (mean±CI: 19 ± 16-22% versus 11 ± 10-14%, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Children spent large proportions of their waking day sitting, often accumulated in prolonged uninterrupted bouts and particularly after school and on weekends. Interventions to reduce sitting time in children are urgently needed.
Funding
APS is supported by the School of Sport Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University and by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre—Lifestyle theme. NP is supported by a British Heart Foundation project grant (PG/12/70/29777). SEB, DDB and LCNs involvement in this publication was also funded by the NIHR.
History
School
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Journal of Public Health
Volume
41
Issue
4
Pages
757–764
Citation
SHERRY, A.P. ... et al., 2018. activPAL-measured sitting levels and patterns in 9-10 year old children from a UK city. Journal of Public Health, doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdy181
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Public Health following peer review. The version of record SHERRY, A.P. ... et al., 2018. activPAL-measured sitting levels and patterns in 9-10 year old children from a UK city. Journal of Public Health, doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdy181 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy181