Chair, Global Summit on the Physical Activity of Children Active Healthy Kids Canada, established in 1994, is a registered charitable organization that works to power the movement to get kids moving by providing knowledge, insight and understanding that influences thinking and action among issue stakeholders to help them build better programs, campaigns and policies to increase physical activity (PA) among children and youth.This year marks the 20th anniversary of Active Healthy Kids Canada.Since 2005, Active Healthy Kids Canada has prepared, produced and released an annual Report Card on the Physical Activity of Children and Youth (see www.activehealthykids.ca).Each year the Report Card provides a comprehensive overview of the "state of the nation" on how Canada is succeeding in providing PA opportunities for children and youth.The 10th Anniversary Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card was released in 2014.A failing or unsatisfactory grade for PA has been assigned in Canada every year that the Report Card has been released. 1The most recent data suggest that only 5% of Canadian school children and youth meet minimum PA guidelines. 2,3Similar findings are available in many countries making childhood and youth physical inactivity a global concern 4 with significant implications for future chronic disease.A recent comprehensive analysis of the effects of PA on the global burden of noncommunicable diseases and mortality has estimated that 6% of coronary heart disease cases, 7% of type 2 diabetes, 10% of breast and colon cancers, and 9% of deaths are directly attributable to physical inactivity. 5Consequently, 5.3 million deaths worldwide were attributed to physical inactivity in 2007 6 leading to the conclusion that ". . . in view of the prevalence, global reach, and health effect of physical inactivity, the issue should be appropriately described as pandemic, with far reaching health, economic, environmental, and social consequences". 6(p.67)In Canada alone the annual health care costs attributed to physical inactivity among adults is estimated to be $6.8 billion. 7oncerns over high levels of physical inactivity and obesity and subsequent implications for the development of noncommunicable diseases have been expressed worldwide. 4-10Notably, at the sixtysixth session of the United Nations (September 2011) in New York City, the General Assembly made a political declaration on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases ". . .with concern [for] the rising levels of obesity in different regions, particularly among children and youth, and note that obesity, an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity have strong linkages with the four main non-
Purpose: Criterion-referenced cut-points for health-related fitness measures are lacking. This study aimed to determine the associations between aerobic fitness and high blood pressure levels (HBP) to determine the cut-points that best predict HBP among adolescents. Method: This cross-sectional school-based study with sample of 875 adolescents aged 14–19 years was conducted in southern Brazil. Aerobic fitness was assessed using the modified Canadian Aerobic Fitness Test (mCAFT). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured by the oscillometric method with a digital sphygmomanometer. Analyses controlled for sociodemographic variables, physical activity, body mass and biological maturation. Results: Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves demonstrated that mCAFT measures could discriminate HBP in both sexes (female: AUC = 0.70; male: AUC = 0.63). The cut-points with the best discriminatory power for HBP were 32 mL·kg -1 ·min -1 for females and 40 mL·kg -1 ·min -1 for males. Females (OR = 8.4; 95% CI: 2.1, 33.7) and males (OR: 2.5; CI 95%: 1.2, 5.2) with low aerobic fitness levels were more likely to have HBP. Conclusion: mCAFT measures are inversely associated with BP and cut-points from ROC analyses have good discriminatory power for HBP.
Objective To examine the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES; household income and parental education) and objectively measured sleep patterns (sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and bedtime) among children from around the world and explore how the relationships differ across country levels of human development. Design Multinational, cross-sectional study from sites in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, India, Kenya, Portugal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Setting The International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment. Participants A total of 6040 children aged 9-11 years. Measurements Sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and bedtime were monitored over 7 consecutive days using waist-worn accelerometers. Multilevel models were used to examine the relationships between sleep patterns and SES. Results In country-specific analyses, there were no significant linear trends for sleep duration and sleep efficiency based on income and education levels. There were significant linear trends in 4 countries for bedtime (Australia, United States, United Kingdom, and India), generally showing that children in the lowest income group had later bedtimes. Later bedtimes were associated with lowest level of parental education in only 2 countries (United Kingdom and India). Patterns of associations between sleep characteristics and SES were not different between boys and girls. Conclusions Sleep patterns of children (especially sleep duration and efficiency) appear unrelated to SES in each of the 12 countries, with no differences across country levels of human development. The lack of evidence for an epidemiological transition in sleep patterns suggests that efforts to improve sleep hygiene of children should not be limited to any specific SES level.
The Access bar claims to contain adenosine antagonists and a precise mixture of macronutrients that are purported to improve aerobic performance by increasing fat metabolism and providing sustained exogenous energy. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of the Access bar on endurance running performance. Twelve active, healthy runners completed 5 sessions: a V(O)2 max test, a 30-minute familiarization session, and 3 experimental sessions. During each experimental session subjects ran a self-paced, simulated race on a treadmill (approximately 55 minutes) until they had completed a set energy expenditure target (0.8368 kJ x 60 minutes x body mass). Fifteen minutes before exercise subjects received either the Access bar and water, Uncle Tobys Peanut Butter Muesli Bar and water, or Crystal Light, using a randomized, double-blind design. Heart rate, oxygen consumption, respiratory exchange ratio, and running speed were measured every minute during testing. Blood lactate and rating of perceived exertion were assessed at selected intervals; time to finish was also recorded. Analysis of variance showed no significant difference between the 3 treatments in any of the measures. These results do not support the use of the Access Sports Nutrition Bar to enhance endurance running performance of approximately one hour.
For 20 years Active Healthy Kids Canada (AHKC) has worked to inspire the country to engage all children and youth in physical activity (PA). The primary vehicle to achieve this is the AHKC Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, which has been released annually since 2005. Using 10 years of experience with this knowledge translation and synthesis mechanism, this paper aggregates and consolidates diverse evidence demonstrating the impact of the Report Card and related knowledge translation activities. Over the years many evaluations, consultations, assessments, and surveys have helped inform changes in the Report Card to improve its impact. Guided by a logic model, the various assessments have traversed areas related to distribution and reach, meeting stakeholder needs, use of the Report Card, its influence on policy, and advancing the mission of AHKC. In the past 10 years, the Report Card has achieved > 1 billion media impressions, distributed > 120,000 printed copies and > 200,000 electronic copies, and benefited from a collective ad value > $10 million. The Report Card has been replicated in 14 countries, 2 provinces, 1 state and 1 city. AHKC has received consistent positive feedback from stakeholders and end-users, who reported that the Report Card has been used for public awareness/education campaigns and advocacy strategies, to strengthen partnerships, to inform research and program design, and to advance and adjust policies and strategies. Collectively, the evidence suggests that the Report Card has been successful at powering the movement to get kids moving, and in achieving demonstrable success on immediate and intermediate outcomes, although the long-term goal of improving the PA of Canadian children and youth remains to be realized.
Summary Background It is unknown whether moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA) thresholds for obesity should be adapted depending on level of sedentary behaviour in children. Objective The objective of the study is to determine the MVPA thresholds that best discriminate between obese and non‐obese children, by level of screen time and total sedentary time in 12 countries. Methods This multinational, cross‐sectional study included 6522 children 9–11 years of age. MVPA and sedentary time were assessed using waist‐worn accelerometry, while screen time was self‐reported. Obesity was defined according to the World Health Organization reference data. Results Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses showed that the best thresholds of MVPA to predict obesity ranged from 53.8 to 73.9 min d −1 in boys and from 41.7 to 58.7 min d −1 in girls, depending on the level of screen time. The MVPA cut‐offs to predict obesity ranged from 37.9 to 75.9 min d −1 in boys and from 32.5 to 62.7 min d −1 in girls, depending on the level of sedentary behaviour. The areas under the curve ranged from 0.57 to 0.73 (‘fail’ to ‘fair’ accuracy), and most sensitivity and specificity values were below 85%, similar to MVPA alone. Country‐specific analyses provided similar findings. Conclusions The addition of sedentary behaviour levels to MVPA did not result in a better predictive ability to classify children as obese/non‐obese compared with MVPA alone.
No abstract is provided for this article.
The purpose of this study was to explore the association between participation in organized sport and a broad array of mental health difficulties among US children and adolescents. The data (cross-sectional) were from Data Release 3.0 (one-year follow-up visits on the full cohort) of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study—a broadly representative sample of 11,235 US children and adolescents aged 9 to 13 years. Parents/guardians provided self-reports of their child’s mental health difficulties using the Child Behavior Checklist. To assess participation in organized sport, children and adolescents were categorized into one of four groups: 1) participation in team sport, 2) participation in individual sport, 3) participation in team and individual sport, and 4) non-sport participation. Participation in team sport compared to non-sport participation was associated with 10% lower anxious/depressed scores, 19% lower withdrawn/depressed scores, 17% lower social problems scores, 17% lower thought problems scores, and 12% lower attention problems scores. Participation in team sport compared to non-sport participation was also associated with 20% lower rule-breaking behavior scores for females (compared to males). Conversely, participation in individual sport compared to non-sport participation was associated with 16% higher anxious/depressed scores, 14% higher withdrawn/depressed scores, 12% higher social problems scores, and 14% higher attention problems scores. Participation in both team and individual sport compared to non-sport participation was associated with 17% lower rule-breaking behavior scores for females (compared to males). Results indicate that team sport participation was associated with fewer mental health difficulties, whereas individual sport participation was associated with greater mental health difficulties. The findings complement previous research suggesting that team sport participation may be a vehicle to support child and adolescent mental health. Additional research is needed to determine to what extent, and under what circumstances, participation in individual sport may be problematic for younger cohorts.
Longitudinal analyses were used to examine the rate of change of self-reported weight among adults over two-year intervals from 1996/1997 to 2004/2005, and to determine if the pace at which Canadians' weight is changing has slowed down or accelerated. Associations between weight change and sex, age group and body mass index (BMI) category arealsoexamined.The data are from the 1996/1997 through 2004/2005 National Population Health Survey.Average weight changes over two-year intervals were calculated by sex, age group and BMI category. Linear regression was used to determine if the rate of weight change was stable, increased or decreased over time.From 1996/1997 to 2004/2005, Canadian adults gained, on average, 0.5 to 1 kg per two-year period. Although people aged 18 to 64 continued to gain weight, the amount gained decreased significantly in the most recent interval, 2002/2003 to 2004/2005. This downturn is due, in part, to a significant decrease in the proportion of men gaining weight during that period. However, among people who gained weight, the amount gained in two years increased over the entire eight-year period.
