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د. يزيد بن الخلاوي العنزي Dr. Yazeed A. Alanazi

Assistant Professor

أستاذ فسيولوجيا الجهد البدني المساعد

كلية علوم الرياضة والنشاط البدني
كلية علوم الرياضة والنشاط البدني، مكتب G131، مبنى 69
publication
Journal Article
2022

24-Hour movement behaviours and COVID-19 among children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A repeat cross-sectional study.

Abstract
This study investigated how children's 24-hour (24-h) movement behaviours were affected by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Previous research examined 24-h movement behaviours in Saudi Arabia seven months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. This repeat cross-sectional study examined changes in 24-h movement behaviours 12 months after the WHO declaration. The Time 2 survey repeated five months (1 March – 15 May 2021) after Time 1 survey (1 October – 11 November 2020). The survey was distributed to parents of children aged 6–12 years across Saudi Arabia via an online survey. Children were classified as meeting 24-h movement guidelines if they reported uninterrupted sleep for 9–11 ​h per night, ≤ 2 ​h of recreational sedentary screen time (RST) per day and ≥ 60 ​min of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) per day. A total of 1 045 parents from all regions of Saudi Arabia responded (42.4%). Only 1.8% of children met all components of the guidelines, compared to 3.4% in Time 1. In the present study, girls spent more days per week in MVPA ≥ 60 ​min duration than boys (3.0 vs 2.6; p ​= ​0.025), while boys had spent more days per week engaged in activities that strengthened muscle and bone than girls (3.0 vs 2.8; p ​= ​0.019). Healthy levels of physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB) and sleep further declined in Saudi children five months after the Time 1 survey. These challenges require urgent intervention to ensure children's movement behaviours improve as Saudi Arabia moves out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publisher Name
Sports Medicine and Health Science
more of publication
publications

Abstract: Development of gross motor skills is important for a child’s health and cognition. Early evaluation of gross motor skills during elementary school years is important to monitor and…

Published in:
Journal of Sport Sciences and Physical Education.