Advancing the global physical activity agenda: recommendations for future research by the 2020 WHO Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Guidelines Development Group
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: In July, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) commenced work to update the 2010 Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health and established a Guideline Development Group (GDG) comprising expert public health scientists and practitioners to inform the drafting of the 2020 Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior. The overall task of the GDG was to review the scientific evidence and provide expert advice to the WHO on the amount of physical activity and sedentary behavior associated with optimal health in children and adolescents, adults, older adults (> 64 years), and also specifically in pregnant and postpartum women and people living with chronic conditions or disabilities. METHODS: The GDG reviewed the available evidence specific to each sub-population using systematic protocols and in doing so, identified a number of gaps in the existing literature. These proposed research gaps were discussed and verified by expert consensus among the entire GDG. RESULTS: Evidence gaps across population sub-groups included a lack of information on: 1) the precise shape of the dose-response curve between physical activity and/or sedentary behavior and several of the health outcomes studied; 2) the health benefits of light-intensity physical activity and of breaking up sedentary time with light-intensity activity; 3) differences in the health effects of different types and domains of physical activity (leisure-time; occupational; transportation; household; education) and of sedentary behavior (occupational; screen time; television viewing); and 4) the joint association between physical activity and sedentary time with health outcomes across the life course. In addition, we acknowledge the need to conduct more population-based studies in low- and middle-income countries and in people living with disabilities and/or chronic disease, and to identify how various sociodemographic factors (age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status) modify the health effects of physical activity, in order to address global health disparities. CONCLUSIONS: Although the 2020 WHO Guidelines for Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior were informed by the most up-to-date research on the health effects of physical activity and sedentary time, there is still substantial work to be done in advancing the global physical activity agenda.
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The large majority of studies have measured physical activity using questionnaires, which do not capture short bouts (eg <10 min) of incidental physical activity, particularly when it is done during daily living and for short bursts.
“The large majority of studies have measured physical activity using questionnaires, which do not capture short bouts (eg <10 min) of incidental physical activity, particularly when it is done during daily living and for short bursts.4”
Evidence used to inform the latest US and WHO physical activity guidelines synthesised reviews of observational studies using device-based and questionnaire-based data that did not have the granularity to assess intermittent activity bouts, which has been highlighted as a limitation by policy makers.
“Indeed, evidence used to inform the latest US and WHO physical activity guidelines synthesised reviews of observational studies using device-based and questionnaire-based data that did not have the granularity to assess intermittent activity bouts, which has been highlighted as a limitation by policy makers.4”
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References 31 · Cited by 387
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [2]World Health Organization Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age 2019 Geneva World Health Organization 31091057
- [3]World Health Organization Global recommendations on physical activity for health 2010 Geneva World Health Organization 26180873
- Authors
- DiPietro, L., Al-Ansari, S. S., Biddle, S. J. H., Borodulin, K., Bull, F. C., Buman, M. P., Cardon, G., Carty, C., Chaput, J.-P., Chastin, S., Chou, R., Dempsey, P. C., Ekelund, U., Firth, J., Friedenreich, C. M., Garcia, L., Gichu, M., Jago, R., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Lambert, E., Leitzmann, M., Milton, K., Ortega, F. B., Ranasinghe, C., Stamatakis, E., Tiedemann, A., Troiano, R. P., van der Ploeg, H. P., & Willumsen, J. F.
- Affiliations
- George Washington University (US)
- University of Southern Queensland (AU)
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Munster Technological University (IE)
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- Glasgow Caledonian University (GB)
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute (AU)
- Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NO)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Alberta Health Services (CA)
- Ministry of Health (KE)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center (US)
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- University of Regensburg (DE)
- University of East Anglia (GB)
- Universidad de Granada (ES)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- National Cancer Institute (US)
- Amsterdam Public Health (NL)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- Corresponding author
- DiPietro, Loretta
- ORCID
- DiPietro, Loretta
- Biddle, Stuart J. H.
- Borodulin, Katja
- Bull, Fiona C.
- Buman, Matthew P.
- Cardon, Greet
- Carty, Catherine
- Chaput, Jean-Philippe
- Chastin, Sebastien
- Chou, Roger
- Dempsey, Paddy C.
- Ekelund, Ulf
- Firth, Joseph
- Friedenreich, Christine M.
- Gichu, Muthoni
- Jago, Russell
- Katzmarzyk, Peter T.
- Lambert, Estelle
- Leitzmann, Michael
- Milton, Karen
- Ortega, Francisco B.
- Ranasinghe, Chathuranga
- Stamatakis, Emmanuel
- Tiedemann, Anne
- Troiano, Richard P.
- Willumsen, Juana F.
- Venue
- International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
- Published
- 2020-11-26
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 143-143
- ISSN
- 1479-5868 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7690200
- OpenAlex
- W3108954956
- Cited by
- 387
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 46 · 2025: 70 · 2024: 85 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 68 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 27.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Southern Queensland ePrints (University of Southern Queensland) (acceptedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (acceptedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- ResearchOnline (Glasgow Caledonian University) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- uO Research (University of Ottawa) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Civil War Book Review (submittedVersion)
- Institutional Repository of the University of Granada (University of Granada) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Regensburg Publication Server (University of Regensburg) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Open University of Cape Town (University of Cape Town) (submittedVersion)
- STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
- Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Apollo (cc-by)
- Funders
- Public Health Agency of Canada
- Government of Norway
- 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 guidelines, sedentary behavior, research gaps, dose-response relationship, light physical activity, occupational physical activity, screen time, television viewing, chronic disease, disability, older adults, pregnant and postpartum women, children and adolescents, health disparities, sociodemographic factors, low- and middle-income countries
- MeSH terms
- Population Health, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Chronic Disease, Female, Persons with Disabilities, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pregnancy, Research, World Health Organization, Exercise, Guidelines as Topic, Pregnant People, Postpartum Period, Sedentary Behavior
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