Age-related change in sedentary behavior during childhood and adolescence: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Age-related change in sedentary behavior during childhood
and adolescence: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Sedentary behaviours are highly prevalent in young people and it is of concern that they may become more prevalent with age. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to quantify age-related change in sedentary behaviour during childhood and adolescence. Ten electronic databases were searched. Included studies presented a quantitative estimate of duration of sedentary behaviours in English language, peer-reviewed publication. Meta-analyses summarised weighted mean differences (WMD) in device-measured sedentary time over 1, 2, 3, and 4+ years of follow-up and annual change in daily sedentary minutes. Effect modification was explored using meta-regression. Narrative synthesis was conducted for questionnaire-assessed sedentary behaviour. Ninety-four studies met inclusion criteria; 30 were eligible for meta-analysis. Sedentary behaviour increased by (WMD 95% Confidence Interval (CI)) 27.9 (23.2, 32.7), 61.0 (50.7, 71.4), 63.7 (53.3, 74.0), 140.7 (105.1, 176.4) minutes per day over 1, 2, 3, 4+ years follow-up. We observed no effect modification by gender, baseline age, location, study attrition or quality. The average annual increase was (ES, 95% CI) 7.8 (6.4, 9.1) minutes. For both individual and composite measures of sedentary behaviour assessed by questionnaire, over half of studies reported increased duration over follow-up. Sedentary behaviour increases as children age and changes consistently in boys and girls.