INTRODUCTION: Despite the health benefits, a large proportion of girls and boys in Europe do not travel to school actively. A better understanding of the correlates associated with this behavior could guide interventions. This study examines perceived social and environmental correlates of active travel to school (ACTS) from the 2017/18 Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in four European countries, with a special emphasis on gender differences (n = 22,023). METHODS: Logistic regression was conducted to analyze associations between the perceived importance of each correlate and ACTS behavior for 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old girls and boys from Germany, Czechia, Poland, and Slovakia. All models were adjusted for age, family affluence, and meeting World Health Organization recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. RESULTS: Rates of ACTS significantly differed between girls and boys. In Czechia, 65% of girls and boys traveled to school actively, followed by Slovakia (61.4% girls and 58.4% boys), Poland (57.7% girls and 60.2% boys), and Germany (42.6% girls and 48.6% boys). Girls were less likely to actively travel to school compared to boys (odds ratio [OR]: 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87-0.97). Increasing age (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93-0.97) and a greater distance to school index (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.88-0.90) were both negatively associated with ACTS. The perceived importance of living closer to school and of road and neighborhood safety was positively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in boys than in girls for neighborhood safety. On the contrary, the perceived importance of having people to walk with was negatively associated with ACTS, with a stronger association in girls (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.65-0.84) than in boys (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.66-0.88). DISCUSSION: This study provides insights into perceived social and environmental correlates associated with ACTS behavior. Future research should include gender-specific perceptions and more in-depth investigations of correlates encouraging ACTS, especially considering social aspects, safety issues, and the structuring of the environment in different cultural settings.

• Keywords
• HBSC, active transport, environmental correlates, gender, social correlates, students,
• MeSH
• Walking * MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Logistic Models MeSH
• Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Europe MeSH
• Germany MeSH

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The second edition of the Czech Republic's Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth was released in 2022. This paper describes the development of the Report Card and presents a comprehensive summary of the main findings. METHODS: The multi-level search strategy was developed by the national expert panel to identify the available sources that provide data related to the physical activity of Czech children and adolescents. The data were used to assign grades to ten core and two additional indicators. RESULTS: A total of 28 sources provided data that allowed grades to be assigned to 11 out of the 12 indicators. Grade B was assigned to six indicators (School: B+, Community and Environment: B, Organized Sport and Physical Activity: B-, Active Transportation: B-, Family and Peers: B-, Sleep: B-), grade C to three indicators (Overall Physical Activity: C+, Active Play: C, Physical Literacy: C), and grade D to two indicators (Government: D+, Sedentary Behaviors: D). No grade for the "Physical Fitness" indicator could be assigned due to a lack of data collected in the reference period 2018-2019. CONCLUSIONS: Although the family, school, and built environment provided a variety of opportunities to be physically active, a high proportion of children and adolescents did not meet the current physical activity guideline and were exposed to excessive sedentary behavior. A multisectoral and multidisciplinary response is required to reduce the health and economic burden of physical inactivity and excessive sedentary behavior among Czech children and adolescents.

• Keywords
• Environmental determinants, Physical fitness, Sedentary behavior, Sleep, Social determinants, Sports,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to map the available evidence related to physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) in Czech children and adolescents and suggest future directions and improvements to strengthen the surveillance of PA and SB in the Czech Republic. METHODS: The search of articles published between January 2000 and December 2020 included the Medline and Medvik databases and a manual search in eight Czech journals related to the topic. This review followed the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews". RESULTS: Out of 350 identified articles, 79 articles met the criteria for selection and referred to 27 studies. The majority of the articles were cross-sectional (89%), approximately two-thirds of the articles (61%) examined only PA, and half of the articles (51%) employed device-based assessments. Approximately 47% of the articles reported the prevalence of physical inactivity on the basis of inconsistently defined recommendations. Approximately 14%, 23%, and 10% of the articles focused on active transportation, organized PA (including physical education or leisure-time PA), and parent-child PA, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies need to focus on longitudinal design and interventions, randomly selected samples, a mix of device-based and self-reported methods, and the recognition of health-related 24-hour time use patterns. This review advocates the government-supported development of a national surveillance system that will help to reduce insufficient PA and excessive SB.

• Keywords
• Health, Insufficient physical activity, Prevalence, Youth,
• MeSH
• Exercise * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Motor Activity MeSH
• Prevalence MeSH
• Sedentary Behavior * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Scoping Review MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH

The main purpose of the study was to analyze secular trends of health-related physical fitness in 7-14-year-old Croatian children and adolescents from 1999 and 2014. In this observational cross-sectional study, we recruited 5077 children and adolescents between ages 11 and 14 (50.8% girls) from five primary schools located in the capital city of Zagreb. Physical fitness performance was tested from 1999 until 2014. Physical fitness performance included: (1) body-mass index (measure of body size), (2) standing broad jump (measure of lower-body power), (3) polygon backwards (measure of general coordination and agility), (4) sit-ups in 60 s (measure of upper-body strength), (5) sit-and-reach test (measure of flexibility) and (6) 6-min run test (measure of cardiorespiratory fitness). Boys performed better in all physical fitness tests, except for sit-and-reach test (p < 0.001). In boys, between 1999 and 2014, body size, upper-body strength and coordination/agility increased, while flexibility, lower-body power and cardiorespiratory fitness decreased. During the same period, girls experienced an increase in body size, lower-body power, upper-body strength, coordination/agility and flexibility, while cardiorespiratory fitness decreased. This study shows that cardiorespiratory fitness, flexibility and coordination/agility decrease, while upper-body strength increases in both sexes. These findings should serve as an avenue for national monitoring system to screen and track biological development in children and adolescents.

• MeSH
• Exercise physiology   MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Body Mass Index * MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Muscle Strength physiology   MeSH
• Physical Fitness physiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Observational Study MeSH
• Geographicals
• Croatia MeSH

BACKGROUND: There are limited studies on the prevalence of adherence to the combined guidelines for physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and sleep in children and adolescents. Moreover, little is known about correlates of adherence to the guidelines. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to examine the prevalence and identify the correlates of adherence to the combined movement guidelines among children and adolescents. METHODS: A total of 355 children aged 8-13 years (44% boys) and 324 adolescents aged 14-18 years (43% boys) from the Czech Republic participated in this study. PA and sleep duration were estimated using multi-day 24-h raw data from wrist-worn accelerometers. Recreational screen time was parent proxy-reported in children and self-reported in adolescents. Seventeen potential correlates were grouped into three homogenous categories for biological and cognitive, behavioral, and family correlates. The multi-level multivariable logistic regression was applied to identify correlates of adherence to combined movement guidelines and to specific combinations of any of two recommendations. RESULTS: Approximately 6.5% of children and 2.2% of adolescents met all recommendations of the combined movement guidelines. In children, girls (OR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.1-0.9) and participants with overweight or obese fathers (OR = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.1-0.7) had significantly lower odds of adherence to the combined movement guidelines. Additionally, children had higher odds of meeting specific combinations of two recommendations if they reported regular fruit and vegetable intake, participated in organized PA, or if their fathers had a university degree. Meanwhile, paternal overweight and obesity, and high sleep efficiency were associated with lower odds of meeting specific combinations of recommendations. In adolescents, sex, fruit and vegetable intake, organized PA, and active play were correlates of meeting specific combinations of any two recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: A low proportion of children and adolescents met the combined movement guidelines and several correlates related to family were identified. Family is a key source of influence for healthy movement behaviors during childhood and adolescence.

• Keywords
• 24-h movement guidelines, Associations, Family, Physical activity, Screen time, Sedentary behavior, Sleep, Youth,
• MeSH
• Screen Time * MeSH
• Exercise MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Guideline Adherence MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Prevalence MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Sedentary Behavior * MeSH
• Sleep MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH

BACKGROUND: The main aim of this study was to quantify the associations between parents' and children's physical activity by age, gender, and the day of the week on the basis of a pedometer-measured step count (SC). METHODS: The sample comprised data from 4-to 16-year-old children and their parents from the Czech Republic (1102 mother-child dyads and 693 father-child dyads). The parents and their children wore the Yamax SW200 pedometer during seven days of monitoring. RESULTS: The strongest SC association was found between mothers and daughters aged 4-7.9 years on weekdays (rp = 0.402; p < 0.01) and at weekends (rp = 0.577; p < 0.01). In children aged 8-16, the parent-child association is gender-specific, with the father-son relationship being dominant, especially at weekends (weekend SC: fathers-sons8-11.9 y rp = 0.416, p < 0.01; fathers-sons12-16 y rp = 0.443, p < 0.01). An increase of 1000 steps in the fathers (mothers) is associated with an increase of more than 400 (200) steps in their sons (daughters). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms a strong parent-child SC relationship in children younger than eight years of age. In older children, the parent-child SC association is gender-specific and dominated by the father-son relationship, particularly on weekends. The SC associations that are revealed can be used for the development of physical activity programs for adolescents.

• Keywords
• adolescents, children, dyads, family, physical activity, step count,
• MeSH
• Actigraphy MeSH
• Exercise * MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Fathers MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Parents MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Parent-Child Relations * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Child, Preschool MeSH
• Aged MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH

BACKGROUND: The main objective of the study is to analyse the changes in the prevalence of obesity among Czech adolescents between 2002 and 2018 with regard to the socioeconomic status (SES) of adolescents' families and to find SES-separated correlates of adolescents' obesity in 2018. METHODS: A nationally representative sample of 29,879 adolescents (49.6% of them boys) aged 10.5-16.5 years was drawn from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children cross-sectional, self-reported questionnaire surveys conducted in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 in Czechia. Chi-square (χ2) tests were performed to assess the changes in the prevalence of obesity in both genders and all SES categories of adolescents between 2002 and 2018, and SES category-related differences in the prevalence of obesity in 2018 separately for boys and girls. A series of multiple stepwise logistic regression (backward elimination) analyses were used to reveal obesity correlates separately for SES categories of adolescents. RESULTS: Across the quadrennial surveys from 2002 to 2018, we observed a clear increase in the prevalence of obesity in all SES categories of adolescents, which was most striking (p < 0.05) in adolescents with low SES (boys: + 7.5% points (p.p.); girls + 2.4 p.p.). When all the survey cycles were compared, the highest prevalence of obesity was evident in the low-SES adolescents in 2018, both in girls (5.1%) and boys (12.0%). Regardless of the adolescent SES category, the lower odds of obesity were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with regular vigorous physical activity (PA), participation in organized sport, and daily consumption of sweets. In addition, at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA significantly reduced the odds of obesity in adolescents of low and high SES categories. CONCLUSIONS: An unreasonable increase in the prevalence of obesity in adolescents with low SES highlights the need to prevent obesity in adolescents with a low-SES background. Additionally, significantly higher odds of obesity in 11- and 13-year-old adolescents from low-SES families, compared with their peers aged 15, indicated an expectable rise in obesity in older low-SES adolescents in the near future.

• Keywords
• Health behaviour of school-aged children study, Obesity, Physical activity, Socioeconomic status,
• MeSH
• Time Factors MeSH
• Health Status Disparities * MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Pediatric Obesity epidemiology   MeSH
• Prevalence MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
• Risk Factors MeSH
• Social Class * MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH

This study aimed to explore differences in rates of achieving the weekly physical activity (PA) recommendation between adolescents who preferred fitness PA and those who did not. Furthermore, we investigated the types of PA practiced by adolescents. In total, 9513 participants from the Czech Republic and Poland, aged 15-18 years took part in the study between 2009 and 2016. Out of this source sample, 4977 self-reported their weekly PA using the IPAQ-Long Form, and 1348 objectively monitored their weekly PA using pedometers and recorded the type of PA. Boys ranked fitness PA third, after team and individual sports. For girls, the preference for fitness PA grew at the expense of dance and outdoor PA. Among Czech and Polish boys as well as Czech girls, those who preferred fitness PA were more likely to achieve the recommended weekly PA level than those who did not prefer fitness PA. We did not find a significant difference in other types of PA and rates of achieving the recommendation of 11,000 steps/day. Preference for fitness PA was associated with an increased likelihood (OR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.12-1.52; p < 0.001) of achieving the recommendation for PA. When promoting adolescents' PA, it is necessary to consider preferred PA types. The PA recommendation was met by almost 33% of adolescents who indicated a preference for fitness PA, but only by 22% of those not preferring fitness activities. Organized PA is also important for meeting PA recommendations.

• Keywords
• IPAQ-Long, Monitoring, Pedometer, Preferences, Recommendation, Step count,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to determine secular trends in vigorous physical activity (VPA) among adolescents in relation to family affluence across 34 countries. METHODS: This study used data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study from 34 countries in Europe and North America. Adolescents (N = 501,647) aged 11, 13 and 15 years across three survey cycles (2006, 2010, 2014) self-reported data on VPA and a family affluence scale (FAS) using standardized questionnaires. RESULTS: A significant increase in VPA was found in low-FAS boys (girls) in four (10) countries and a decrease in four (three) countries. In high-FAS boys (girls), a significant increase was observed in nine (11) countries and a decrease in two(three) countries. An overall significant increase in meeting the VPA recommendations was found in high-FAS boys (OR 1.11; 95% CI 1.06-1.16) and in all FAS groups in girls, with the largest effect being found among high-FAS girls (OR 1.24; 95% CI 1.18-1.30). CONCLUSIONS: A country-specific increase in VPA was observed primarily in the medium- and high-FAS categories. This study suggests a need to focus on increasing VPA efforts, especially in low- and medium-FAS boys.

• Keywords
• Family affluence, HBSC study, Trends, Vigorous physical activity,
• MeSH
• Global Health * MeSH
• Exercise * MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Income statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Europe epidemiology   MeSH
• North America epidemiology   MeSH

OBJECTIVES: Associations between the perceived social and physical environment and self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen time (ST) were examined among adolescents in four European countries. METHODS: Representative samples were surveyed with standardised methodologies. Associations between environmental variables and meeting MVPA recommendations and tertiles of ST were tested in gender-specific logistic regression models. Moderation by country and country-specific relationships were also examined. RESULTS: The most consistent findings across countries were found for the significant associations between neighbourhood social environment and MVPA in both boys and girls. Significant associations with the physical environment varied more between countries and by gender. The most consistent negative associations with ST were found for the social environmental variable of having parental rules for spending time outside the home. CONCLUSIONS: The present findings provided evidence for the generalisability of the associations between environmental correlates and MVPA across four European countries. The findings show clear differences in correlates for MVPA and ST. Further research is needed to better understand the unique aspects of the social and physical environment which explain each of the two behaviours.

• Keywords
• European countries, Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, Physical activity, Screen time, Social and physical environment,
• MeSH
• Screen Time * MeSH
• Residence Characteristics statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Exercise * MeSH
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Sex Factors MeSH
• Social Environment * MeSH
• Age Factors MeSH
• Environment * MeSH
• Self Report MeSH
• Check Tag
• Child MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Adolescent MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Europe MeSH