Levels of physical activity among school-age children in taiwan: A comparison with international recommendations

Few studies have investigated levels of physical activity among children in Taiwan. The purposes of this study were to explore levels of physical activity among children and examine their rates of compliance with various international recommendations. The sample was comprised 463 children (249 boys and 214 girls), aged between nine and twelve from four cities in Taiwan. Three-day Physical Activity Logs (3-d PAL) were used as the instrument to measure physical activity in the previous seven days. The mean and percentile of average estimated energy expenditure (EE, kcal/kg/day), moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA, min/day) and vigorous physical activity (VPA, min/day) among boys and girls according to age group were reported. Four international physical activity recommendations were used, as the criteria with which were examined compliance rates. Results indicated no significant main effects of age or gender, and no interaction was found between EE and MVPA. VPA significantly increased between the aged nine and eleven. Girls aged 12 engaged less significantly VPA than boys. Over 90% of children met the Physical Activity Guidelines for Adolescents (PAGA) and the United States' Healthy People Objective No. 22.6; 80% met the United Kingdom Expert Consensus Group guideline; and 70% met the Healthy People Objective No. 22.7. These results indicated that physical activity among the majority of children complied with the international recommendations. The only significant difference came in participation rates for vigorous physical activity among children of different ages and gender. Our results provide important information for health policy in the field of children's physical activity. We would recommend the setting up of national objectives for the physical activity of children and the conducting of a national surveillance study with a more precise and consistent measurement of physical activity for children to offer a comparable data in the future is suggested.