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Paediatric Exercise Science and Health

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2017) | Viewed by 29421

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Gareth Stratton

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Guest Editor

Applied Sports Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) Research Centre, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK
Interests: physical activity measurement and the development of novel sensor technologies to detect and stimulate changes in physical activity and sedentary behaviour; physical activity interventions in clinical and healthy populations; children's behaviour and positive wellbeing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A Special Issue on children’s physical activity and health, in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, is being organized. For detailed information on the journal, I refer you to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.

Physical inactivity is the fourth largest risk factor for non-communicable disease globally, stimulating politicians to take action to prevent further declines. Children’s physical activity worldwide is a concern. International guidelines recommend that children are active for an hour a day yet only 20% of children are sufficiently active worldwide (Lancet 2016).

While physical inactivity has been implicated in the childhood obesity epidemic, of equal importance are issues related to child development. The environment in all its forms is crucial in providing opportunities and challenges for children to grow, develop and learn in optimal fashion. Unfortunately, the environment, as a whole, presents significant barriers that limit children’s opportunities to engage in physical activity and afford children to spend a significant amount of their time in sedentary behaviours. Further the way that children interact in the social, physical and virtual environment are very different and continue to change at rapid rates as pervasive technology and Internet of things capture children in a spider web of technology. In the social milieu parents are less willing to give children independence and autonomy to move freely in their neighbourhoods, yet structured physical activity, particularly sport and dance have grown. Children who play in natural environments, take active transport opportunities particularly to school or maintain their activity from child to adulthood are in the minority. The aim of this Special Issue is to capture the current compelling science in children’s physical activity and sedentary time in the physical and social environment in the 21st century. The listed keywords suggest just a few of the many possibilities.

Prof. Dr. Gareth Stratton
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Physical activity
Sedentary
Children and young people
Play
Social
Physical
Fitness
Physical literacy
Obesity
Health
Sleep
Child development

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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308 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Physical Activity of German Children and Adolescents 2003–2012: The MoMo-Study

by Steffen C. E. Schmidt, Annette Henn, Claudia Albrecht and Alexander Woll

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(11), 1375; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14111375 - 11 Nov 2017

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 6185

Abstract

Organized and unorganized physical activity (PA) hold an important role in the daily life of children and adolescents. Regular representative tracking of PA in different settings is important to evaluate social trends and implemented interventions. In this paper, representative PA data of German children and adolescents from the MoMo Baseline-Study (2004, n = 4528) are compared to those of Wave 1 (2010, n = 3994). Participants aged 4–17 were drawn out of 167 sample points in Germany and the data was weighted to ensure representativeness. PA was measured via questionnaire and was differentiated between organized (sports clubs and schools) and unorganized (unorganized sports and playing outside). Organized PA in extracurricular activities and sports clubs increased by eight percent, while unorganized PA decreased by seven percent. In addition to sports clubs, schools became a more prevalent setting for participation in physical activity in Germany. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paediatric Exercise Science and Health)

288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Sex and Body Mass Index on Children’s Physical Activity Intensity during Free Play at an Indoor Soft Play Center: An Exploratory Study

by Michelle A. Jones

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(9), 1052; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14091052 - 12 Sep 2017

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 7477

Abstract

Background: Indoor soft play can provide a safe but exciting physical activity opportunity regardless of environmental conditions. Relatively little is known about the quality or quantity of physical activity engaged in by children during indoor free soft play. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution indoor free soft play can make in enabling children to meet physical activity guidelines and to evaluate the effects of sex and body mass index category. Methods: Seventy-two boys and girls aged five to 10 years engaged in un-controlled indoor free soft play with a mean duration of 120.7 (27.1) min, during which physical activity was monitored using Actigraph accelerometers. Results: Children spent an average of 61.7 (24.2) min engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and 51.4% (n = 37) achieved the recommended 60 min of MVPA through the single visit to the indoor soft play center. Boys (68.3 (25.7) min) engaged in significantly (p < 0.05) more MVPA than girls (55.8 (21.4) min). Normal weight (65.7 (23.3) min) children engaged in significantly more MVPA than overweight children (48.0 (18.9) min). Conclusions: Attendance at a soft play indoor center has the potential to support children to engage in sufficient MVPA and overcome environmental factors that can restrict physical activity opportunities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paediatric Exercise Science and Health)

355 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Self-Rated Health Status and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in a Sample of Schoolchildren from Bogotá, Colombia. The FUPRECOL Study

by Robinson Ramírez-Vélez, Carolina Silva-Moreno, Jorge Enrique Correa-Bautista, Katherine González-Ruíz, Daniel Humberto Prieto-Benavides, Emilio Villa-González and Antonio García-Hermoso

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(9), 952; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14090952 - 23 Aug 2017

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4203

Abstract

To evaluate the relationship between Self-Rated Health (SRH) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in a sample of children and adolescents enrolled in official schools in Bogotá, Colombia. A cross-sectional study was performed with 7402 children and adolescents between 9 and 17 years of age. Participants were asked to rate their health based on eight validated questions, addressing the participants propensity for headache, stomach-ache, backache, feeling-low, irritability/bad mood, nervousness, sleeping-difficulties, and dizziness. The choices were “rarely or never”, “almost every month”, “almost every week”, and “more than once a week/about every day”. Participants performed the international course-navette shuttle run test to estimate CRF, and cut-off points for age and gender were used to categorize the healthy/unhealthy fitness zone according to the FITNESSGRAM^® criteria. Overall, 16.4% of those surveyed reported a perception of irritability/bad mood “more than once a week/about every day”, followed by feeling-low and nervousness (both with 9.9%). Dizziness had the lowest prevalence with a percentage of 6.9%. Unhealthy CRF in boys increased the likelihood of headaches by 1.20 times, stomach aches by 1.31 times, feeling-low by 1.29 times, nervousness by 1.24 times, and dizziness by 1.29 times. In girls, unhealthy CRF increased the likelihood of headaches by 1.19 times, backache by 1.26 times, feeling-low by 1.28 times, irritability/bad mood by 1.17 times, sleeping-difficulties by 1.20 times, and dizziness by 1.27 times. SRH was associated with CRF in both genders. Early identification of children and adolescents with low CRF levels will permit interventions to promote healthy behaviors and prevent future diseases during adulthood. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paediatric Exercise Science and Health)

340 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predictors of Segmented School Day Physical Activity and Sedentary Time in Children from a Northwest England Low-Income Community

by Sarah L. Taylor, Whitney B. Curry, Zoe R. Knowles, Robert J. Noonan, Bronagh McGrane and Stuart J. Fairclough

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(5), 534; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14050534 - 16 May 2017

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 6364

Abstract

Background: Schools have been identified as important settings for health promotion through physical activity participation, particularly as children are insufficiently active for health. The aim of this study was to investigate the child and school-level influences on children′s physical activity levels and sedentary time during school hours in a sample of children from a low-income community; Methods: One hundred and eighty-six children (110 boys) aged 9–10 years wore accelerometers for 7 days, with 169 meeting the inclusion criteria of 16 h∙day⁻¹ for a minimum of three week days. Multilevel prediction models were constructed to identify significant predictors of sedentary time, light, and moderate to vigorous physical activity during school hour segments. Child-level predictors (sex, weight status, maturity offset, cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity self-efficacy, physical activity enjoyment) and school-level predictors (number on roll, playground area, provision score) were entered into the models; Results: Maturity offset, fitness, weight status, waist circumference-to-height ratio, sedentary time, moderate to vigorous physical activity, number of children on roll and playground area significantly predicted physical activity and sedentary time; Conclusions: Research should move towards considering context-specific physical activity and its correlates to better inform intervention strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paediatric Exercise Science and Health)

Other

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21 pages, 1561 KiB

Open AccessProtocol

From Surveillance to Intervention: Overview and Baseline Findings for the Active City of Liverpool Active Schools and SportsLinx (A-CLASS) Project

by Nicola McWhannell, Lawrence Foweather, Lee E. F. Graves, Jayne L. Henaghan, Nicola D. Ridgers and Gareth Stratton

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(4), 582; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040582 - 23 Mar 2018

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4664

Abstract

This paper outlines the implementation of a programme of work that started with the development of a population-level children’s health, fitness and lifestyle study in 1996 (SportsLinx) leading to selected interventions one of which is described in detail: the Active City of Liverpool, Active Schools and SportsLinx (A-CLASS) Project. The A-CLASS Project aimed to quantify the effectiveness of structured and unstructured physical activity (PA) programmes on children’s PA, fitness, body composition, bone health, cardiac and vascular structures, fundamental movement skills, physical self-perception and self-esteem. The study was a four-arm parallel-group school-based cluster randomised controlled trial (clinical trials no. NCT02963805), and compared different exposure groups: a high intensity PA (HIPA) group, a fundamental movement skill (FMS) group, a PA signposting (PASS) group and a control group, in a two-schools-per-condition design. Baseline findings indicate that children’s fundamental movement skill competence levels are low-to-moderate, yet these skills are inversely associated with percentage body fat. Outcomes of this project will make an important contribution to the design and implementation of children’s PA promotion initiatives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paediatric Exercise Science and Health)

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