Level of physical activity among children and adolescents in Europe: a review of physical activity assessed objectively by accelerometry
Open accessAbstract
This study explored the proportion of European youth who are sufficiently active according to physical activity (PA) recommendations, based exclusively on objective assessment through accelerometers. A systematic electronic search of studies published up to March 2012 was conducted. PubMed was used to identify accelerometry-assessed PA studies that involved European youth. Within the 131 European studies, only 35 clearly reported the proportion of youth meeting the PA recommendations. Different thresholds lying between 1000 and 4000 counts/min (cpm) were used to define moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). Overall, up to 100% of youth may be sufficiently active when using a threshold of approximately >1000-1500 cpm. With the most cited cut-off point (i.e. >2000 cpm), up to 87% of European youth might be considered physically active with reference to the current recommendations. Alternatively, with a cut-off point >3000 cpm, no more than 3-5% of them appeared to achieve these recommendations. The large discrepancy in outcomes released by accelerometer data is mainly due to the variety of cut-off points for MVPA among youth, hindering the definition of a clear goal towards PA promotion in Europe. Standardization of methods is urgently required.
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A review of European studies using Actigraph accelerometers reported that 3-5% of children met guidelines using a threshold of >3000 cpm, increasing to up to 87% using a threshold of >2000 cpm.
“a review of European studies using Actigraph accelerometers reported that 3–5 % of children met guidelines using an accelerometer threshold of >3000 cpm increasing to up to 87 % meeting guidelines using a threshold of >2000 cpm [20].”
From Objectively measured physical activity and sedentary time in youth: the International Children's Accelerometry Database (ICAD) (2015) · cites this paper as [20]
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References 93 · Cited by 151
Research works printed but not linked: 5
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- Troiano RP, Berrigan D, Dodd KW, Masse LC, Tilert T, McDowell M. Physical activity in the US measured by accelerometer. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2008;40:181e8.
- Trost SG. Measurement of physical activity in children and adolescents. Am J Lifestyle Med 2007;1(4):299e314.
- Magnusson KT, Arngrimsson SA, Sveinsson T, Johannsson E. Physical activity of 9 and 15 year-old Icelandic children - Public health objectives and relations of physical activity to gender, age, anthropometry and area of living. Laeknabladid 2011;97(2):75e81.
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- Authors
- Guinhouya, B. C., Samouda, H., & de Beaufort, C.
- Affiliations
- Université de Lille (FR)
- Centre de Recherche Public de la Santé (LU)
- Corresponding author
- Guinhouya, B.C.
- Venue
- Public Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-04
- Volume
- 127
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 301-311
- ISSN
- 0033-3506 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2052946804
- Cited by
- 151
- References
- 93
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 7
- FWCI
- 1.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Public Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Luxembourg) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Social Sciences › Life-span and Life-course Studies › Sports and Physical Education Studies
- Keywords
- physical activity, children, adolescents, accelerometry, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, activity threshold, physical activity guidelines, European youth, physical activity promotion, method standardization
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Europe, Humans, Motor Activity, Guidelines as Topic, Accelerometry
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