Objectively measured sedentary behavior and physical activity of Finnish 7- to 14-year-old children– associations with perceived health status: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Regular physical activity (PA) forms the basis for healthy growth and development. High volume of sedentary behavior (SB) on the other hand is harmful for health. The purpose of the study was to describe objectively measured PA and SB in Finnish school children. Furthermore, the study aimed at analyzing the association between PA, SB and perceived health status. METHODS The participants of this cross-sectional study were 7- to 14-year-old girls and boys (n = 1029), whose PA and SB during waking hours were measured with Hookie AM 20-accelerometer (Traxmeet Ltd, Espoo, Finland) for seven days. Perceived health status was assessed by a questionnaire. Association between PA, SB and health status was analyzed by logistic regression analysis using SPSS (Inc, Chicago IL). RESULTS Participants (age 10.3 ± 1.9, 52 % girls) with sufficient accelerometer data (at least 4 days with ≥ 10 h/day) were included into the study (n = 851, 88 %). The average measurement time was 13 h 27 min per day. Participants spent on average 54 % (7 h 18 min) of waking hours sedentary, mainly sitting. They stood still on average 9 % of the time (1 h 15 min). Light PA covered on average 18 % (2 h 24 min) and moderate-to-vigorous PA 19 % (2 h 30 min). Younger participants and boys were more active than the older ones and girls. Most (63 %) of the participants perceived their health status as excellent. In an adjusted logistic regression analysis greater sedentary time decreased the odds for excellent perceived health status (p = 0.001). In contrast higher number of steps per day (p = 0.019) increased the odds. CONCLUSIONS Participants spent over half of their waking hours sedentary. Less SB and more steps were associated with excellent perceived health. There is a need for dose-response analyses between objectively measured PA and SB and specific health outcomes in children and adolescents. Also patterns of objectively measured PA and SB should be studied in more detail.