Probably the most active population in the world:accelerometer measurements of 72 school-children in Greenland
Physical activity is the most important lifestyle factor to contribute to a healthy early life. International recommendations are that children should be vigorously physically active for at least 1 h per day, and in Greenland, authorities have claimed a goal of being the world’s most active populati...
| Published in: | International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/4b0da2c9-d00f-4a36-b179-0b55b3f5760d https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2023.2289283 https://findresearcher.sdu.dk/ws/files/253610227/Probably_the_most_active_population_in_the_world_accelerometer_measurements_of_72_school-children_in_Greenland.pdf |
| Summary: | Physical activity is the most important lifestyle factor to contribute to a healthy early life. International recommendations are that children should be vigorously physically active for at least 1 h per day, and in Greenland, authorities have claimed a goal of being the world’s most active population. Since 1994, the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) has measured physical activity among school-children in Greenland by questionnaire data, but the measurement properties of self-reported data in comparison to more objectively measured accelerometer data are unknown. The present paper describes the first study using clinical measures of physical activity among Greenlandic youth. Seventy-two school-children (56% girls) with a mean age of 12 years (range 25%; 75% was 11.5; 12.25) wore accelerometers for seven consecutive days, and data produced significant and informative findings for both practice and future research. Fifty-two per cent of the school-children met the international recommendations of being physically active >1 h per day, when measured by accelerometers, but self-reported data reported a prevalence of 10% meeting the recommendations. A majority of this sample of Greenlandic school-children lives up to international recommendations, which indicates that the goal of being the world’s most active population is within reach. |
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