Compliance of children in northern France with physical activity recommendations

Aims: This study examined the compliance of French children with physical activity (PA) guidelines, using objective assessments of PA. Methods: The study involved 252 children aged 9.9 +/- 0.9 years, with mean height and weight of 1.39 +/- 0.08 m and 35.8 +/- 8.8 kg, respectively. Their usual PA was evaluated during a week using an Actigraph accelerometer. Results: The time spent in a moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) ranged from 142 +/- 44 min.d(-1) to 25 +/- 18 min/day according to the cut-offs used. Boys were significantly more active than girls (p <= .001). Overweight/obese children spent significantly less time in MVPA as determined with cut-off points at 3200 cpm (-26%) or 3600 cpm (-35%) (p < .01). Between 5% (8% of boys vs 1% of girls, p < .0001) and 9% (14% of boys vs 3% of girls, p < .0001) of children probably met the PA guidelines. No relationships were found with socioeconomic status. Conclusions: This high proportion of insufficiently active children (> 90%), together with the relatively high proportion of overweight children in this area, advocates a more aggressive PA promotion project, which should target all children whatever their social origins.