title: Compliance of children in northern France with physical activity recommendations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the compliance of French children with physical activity (PA) guidelines, using objective assessments of PA.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study involved 252 children aged 9.9 +/- 0.9 years, with mean height and weight of 1.39 +/- 0.08 m and 35.8 +/- 8.8 kg, respectively. Their usual PA was evaluated during a week using an Actigraph accelerometer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The time spent in a moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) ranged from 142 +/- 44 min x d(-1) to 25 +/- 18 min/day according to the cut-offs used. Boys were significantly more active than girls (p < or = .001). Overweight/obese children spent significantly less time in MVPA as determined with cut-off points at 3200 cpm (-26%) or 3600 cpm (-35%) (p < .01). Between 5% (8% of boys vs 1% of girls, p < .0001) and 9% (14% of boys vs 3% of girls, p < .0001) of children probably met the PA guidelines. No relationships were found with socioeconomic status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This high proportion of insufficiently active children (> 90%), together with the relatively high proportion of overweight children in this area, advocates a more aggressive PA promotion project, which should target all children whatever their social origins.
authors.affiliation: EA 2694, Laboratory of Public Health, Faculty for Health Engineering and Management, UDSL/ILIS, University Lille - Northern France, France.
authors.forename: Geoffroy K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Apété
authors.forename: Djamel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zitouni
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hubert
authors.forename: Benjamin C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Guinhouya
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors