TY - JOUR
T1 - Device-Measured Change in Physical Activity in Primary School Children During the UK COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown
T2 - A Longitudinal Study
AU - Scales, James
AU - Chavda, Jasmine
AU - Ikeda, Erika
AU - Tsocheva, Ivelina
AU - Dove, Rosamund E
AU - Wood, Helen E
AU - Kalsi, Harpal
AU - Colligan, Grainne
AU - Griffiths, Lewis
AU - Day, Bill
AU - Crichlow, Cheryll
AU - Keighley, Amanda
AU - Fletcher, Monica
AU - Newby, Chris
AU - Tomini, Florian
AU - Balkwill, Fran
AU - Mihaylova, Borislava
AU - Grigg, Jonathan
AU - Beevers, Sean
AU - Eldridge, Sandra
AU - Sheikh, Aziz
AU - Gauderman, James
AU - Kelly, Frank
AU - Randhawa, Gurch
AU - Mudway, Ian S
AU - van Sluijs, Esther
AU - Griffiths, Christopher J
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Physical Activity Technical Team at the University of Cambridge for their help in processing the accelerometry data. The CHILL team would like to thank all the teachers and students at the participating schools in London, Luton, and Dunstable. This research was supported by the National institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Center (NIHR203312). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. CHILL is funded by NIHR Public Health Research with additional funding by NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Heath Research and Care (CLAHRC) North Thames, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North Thames, the Mayor of London, and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Center.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Human Kinetics, Inc.
PY - 2023/5/4
Y1 - 2023/5/4
N2 - BACKGROUND: Lockdown measures, including school closures, due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused widespread disruption to children's lives. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of a national lockdown on children's physical activity using seasonally matched accelerometry data.METHODS: Using a pre/post observational design, 179 children aged 8 to 11 years provided physical activity data measured using hip-worn triaxial accelerometers worn for 5 consecutive days prepandemic and during the January to March 2021 lockdown. Multilevel regression analyses adjusted for covariates were used to assess the impact of lockdown on time spent in sedentary and moderate to vigorous physical activity.RESULTS: A 10.8-minute reduction in daily time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (standard error: 2.3 min/d, P < .001) and a 33.2-minute increase in daily sedentary activity (standard error: 5.5 min/d, P < .001) were observed during lockdown. This reflected a reduction in daily moderate to vigorous physical activity for those unable to attend school (-13.1 [2.3] min/d, P < .001) during lockdown, with no significant change for those who continued to attend school (0.4 [4.0] min/d, P < .925).CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the loss of in-person schooling was the single largest impact on physical activity in this cohort of primary school children in London, Luton, and Dunstable, United Kingdom.
AB - BACKGROUND: Lockdown measures, including school closures, due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused widespread disruption to children's lives. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of a national lockdown on children's physical activity using seasonally matched accelerometry data.METHODS: Using a pre/post observational design, 179 children aged 8 to 11 years provided physical activity data measured using hip-worn triaxial accelerometers worn for 5 consecutive days prepandemic and during the January to March 2021 lockdown. Multilevel regression analyses adjusted for covariates were used to assess the impact of lockdown on time spent in sedentary and moderate to vigorous physical activity.RESULTS: A 10.8-minute reduction in daily time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (standard error: 2.3 min/d, P < .001) and a 33.2-minute increase in daily sedentary activity (standard error: 5.5 min/d, P < .001) were observed during lockdown. This reflected a reduction in daily moderate to vigorous physical activity for those unable to attend school (-13.1 [2.3] min/d, P < .001) during lockdown, with no significant change for those who continued to attend school (0.4 [4.0] min/d, P < .925).CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the loss of in-person schooling was the single largest impact on physical activity in this cohort of primary school children in London, Luton, and Dunstable, United Kingdom.
KW - Accelerometry
KW - COVID-19/epidemiology
KW - Child
KW - Communicable Disease Control
KW - Exercise
KW - Humans
KW - Longitudinal Studies
KW - Pandemics/prevention & control
KW - Schools
KW - Sedentary Behavior
KW - United Kingdom/epidemiology
U2 - 10.1123/jpah.2022-0434
DO - 10.1123/jpah.2022-0434
M3 - Article
C2 - 37142406
SN - 1543-3080
VL - 20
SP - 639
EP - 647
JO - Journal of Physical Activity and Health
JF - Journal of Physical Activity and Health
IS - 7
ER -