Physical Activity During the Early Years: A Systematic Review of Correlates and Determinants
Section snippets
Context
Physical activity (PA) is a key influence upon health across the life course.1, 2, 3, 4 The “early years” is an umbrella term for an age range that encompasses infants (0–2 years), toddlers (2–4 years), and preschoolers (4–6 years).5 During this period, PA is reported to be associated with multiple health outcomes.5 Evidence suggests PA levels track from early to later childhood,6 and into adulthood,7 so establishing optimal levels of this health-related behavior early in life is crucial.8, 9
Search Strategy
The search and review process followed guidance from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.33 A systematic literature search was conducted within nine electronic databases: Web of Science, SCOPUS, SPORTDiscus, PubMed, Cochrane, ProQuest, PsycINFO, Embase, and CINAHL. Each database was searched from the year of inception (i.e., the earliest was Web of Science, 1900) until September 2014. Data extraction and interpretation took place between November 2014 and
Review Process
Figure 1 outlines the flow of articles through the review. A total of 22,045 articles were identified and screened; 19,385 were excluded based on the title (mostly because of their sample’s age falling outside the inclusion criteria), and a further 1,733 were identified as duplicates and excluded. Of the remaining 927 abstracts, 490 were excluded. Four hundred thirty-seven full articles were screened and 332 excluded, leaving 105 articles. A further 25 articles were included from hand searching
Discussion
This systematic review identified a large number of observational studies that examined the correlates and determinants of PA in the early years. Few studies were of high quality and the numbers of identified correlates and determinants were small. All correlates and determinants found for each of the PA intensities (TPA, MVPA, and LPA) were either demographic and biological variables, social and cultural variables, or physical environment variables. Boys were found to participate in more TPA,
Conclusions
Although a large body of research investigating potential correlates/determinants of PA in the early years has been published, few studies are of high quality. Studies included in this review focused predominantly on demographic/biological and social/cultural correlates and determinants. Future research should focus on:
- 1
improved reporting of measurement methods so study quality can be accurately assessed;
- 2
longitudinal/prospective studies to assess temporal associations (determinants);
- 3
additional
Acknowledgments
DDB and SEB’s involvement in this publication was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This study is part of the Healthy Children, Healthy Families Theme of the NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care Yorkshire and Humber. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, NIHR, or the Department of Health.
TH is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council
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2023, The Lancet Regional Health - Western PacificThe multivariate physical activity signatures associated with body mass index and waist-to-height ratio in 3–5-year-old Norwegian children
2022, Preventive Medicine ReportsCitation Excerpt :There is convincing evidence of a negative association for physical activity (PA) with adiposity and metabolic health in school-aged children and youth (Poitras et al., 2016; Ekelund et al., 2012; Aadland et al., 2018; Jimenez-Pavon et al., 2010; Cooper et al., 2015). However, as the evidence for such associations in younger children is inconclusive (Cooper et al., 2015; Carson et al., 2017; Bingham et al., 2016; Wiersma et al., 2020), it is uncertain when these relationships start to emerge. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis by Wiersma et al. (2020) showed no associations between PA and body mass index (BMI) (15 studies) or waist circumference (5 studies) in preschool-aged children, except a positive association between moderate to vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) and BMI in boys.
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