Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Prevalence of Physical Activity in South American Children

Objectives

This study aimed to systematically review and apply meta-analytic procedures to investigate the prevalence and time spent in different physical activity (PA) intensities among South American children across the childhood spectrum, according to sex and protocol used.

Methods

We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SCiELO); only studies with children between 0 and 11 years were included. Random-effects meta-analysis models were used to calculate the pooled estimates with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI). All analyses were conducted using Stata 18.0.

Results

The literature search yielded 12 217 articles, with 28 studies remaining relevant for this review. The main exclusion criteria for the manuscripts were lack of prevalence data and doubled data. Pooled estimates revealed that children spent 61.4 (95% CI, 54.4–68.5) min/day of moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA), with differences in the time spent between girls (mean: 49.8 [95% CI, 38.8–60.8]) and boys (mean: 63.4 [95% CI, 55.7–71.1]). We noticed a great variability in PA prevalence, which ranged from 1.7% to approximately 80%, and was consistently lower among girls. Studies using device-based measures tend to report lower levels of PA than those relying on self-reported data.

Conclusions

On average, South American children spend 61.4 min/day on MVPA, with high variability of both device-measured and self-reported PA. Regardless of the method used to measure PA, sex inequalities favorable to boys were noted.