TY - JOUR
T1 - A systematic review of children’s physical activity patterns
T2 - Concept, operational definitions, instruments, statistical analyses, and health implications
AU - Gomes, Thayse Natacha
AU - Katzmarzyk, Peter T.
AU - Pereira, Sara
AU - Thuany, Mabliny
AU - Standage, Martyn
AU - Maia, José
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2020/8/2
Y1 - 2020/8/2
N2 - Despite the widespread use of the expression “physical activity pattern” (PAP), there apparently is no general consensus regarding its definition. This systematic review aimed to examine available research focussing on (1) definitions of PAP, (2) instruments/techniques used to describe PAP, (3) statistical approaches used to analyse PAP, and (4) implications of PAP on children’s health. A systematic review of the available literature was done to identify studies published up to October 2019, and 76 studies were eligible. None of the studies presented a formal definition of PAP; a wide range of instruments were used to investigate children’s PAP, and most of the revised studies did not explicitly present a formal statistical model to define PAP. Twenty-four papers purported to examine associations between PAP and health indicators. The review highlights no consensus on a clear PAP definition whatever the instrument used to capture it, and we did not find any agreement regarding how best to analyse PAP. We suggest that PAP should be used when targeting the investigation of similarities/dissimilarities, as well as stabilities and/or changes in children’s PA at an intra-personal level. In sum, PAP should be used to best describe individual streams of behaviours, and not exclusively PA levels/intensities.
AB - Despite the widespread use of the expression “physical activity pattern” (PAP), there apparently is no general consensus regarding its definition. This systematic review aimed to examine available research focussing on (1) definitions of PAP, (2) instruments/techniques used to describe PAP, (3) statistical approaches used to analyse PAP, and (4) implications of PAP on children’s health. A systematic review of the available literature was done to identify studies published up to October 2019, and 76 studies were eligible. None of the studies presented a formal definition of PAP; a wide range of instruments were used to investigate children’s PAP, and most of the revised studies did not explicitly present a formal statistical model to define PAP. Twenty-four papers purported to examine associations between PAP and health indicators. The review highlights no consensus on a clear PAP definition whatever the instrument used to capture it, and we did not find any agreement regarding how best to analyse PAP. We suggest that PAP should be used when targeting the investigation of similarities/dissimilarities, as well as stabilities and/or changes in children’s PA at an intra-personal level. In sum, PAP should be used to best describe individual streams of behaviours, and not exclusively PA levels/intensities.
KW - Children
KW - Definition
KW - Health
KW - Measurement
KW - Physical activity pattern
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089427683&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph17165837
DO - 10.3390/ijerph17165837
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32806624
AN - SCOPUS:85089427683
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 17
SP - 1
EP - 25
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 16
M1 - 5837
ER -