Physical activity and sedentary behaviours levels of Kuwaiti adolescents: the study of health and activity among adolescents in Kuwait

Background: There are scarce number of studies describing the lifestyle of adolescents living in Arab countries. We described physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours patterns among Kuwait adolescents and the associations with parental education. Methods: Cross-sectional data from 435 adolescents (201 boys) from the Study of Health and Activity among Adolescents in Kuwait (SHAAK), conducted between 2012-2013. Outcomes variables included PA (Actigraph GT1M accelerometers) and sedentary behaviours. Exposure variable was parental education. Descriptive and multiple logistic regression analysis to examine the association between parental education and outcomes variables. Results: Total sedentary time (minutes/day) was higher in girls (568.2 ± 111.6) than boys (500.0 ± 102.0), whereas boys accumulated more minutes in light, moderate and vigorous PA (all P-values≤0.001). In total, 3.4% of adolescents spent ≥60 minutes/day of moderate to vigorous PA (by accelerometry) whilst only 21% met screen-time guidelines. Low/medium maternal education was associated with a higher odds of exceeding screen-time guidelines (OR, 95% CI: 2.09, 1.09-4.02). Conclusions: Most Kuwaiti adolescents in this sample were physically inactive and exceeded screen-time guidelines. Objective PA was not socially patterned, yet an inverse association between maternal education and screen-time behaviours was found.