Physical Activity in Iranian students CASPIAN Study

Background: Sedentary behavior in childhood is one of the strongest risk factors for many chronic diseases and somatic conditions in adulthood, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity, and osteoporosis. This study was an investigation to design a surveillance system for non-communicable diseases.
Methods: The present national survey was performed as a multi-centric cross-sectional study for the baseline survey of a project entitled: "Childhood & Adolescence Surveillance and PreventIon of Adult Non- communicable Diseases": CASPIAN Study. The study was supported by the World Health Organization and performed by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, with collaboration of 23 universities of Medical Sciences. One of the items studied was the physical activity. Physical activity data is evaluated by metabolic equivalent (METs) accelerometers.
Results: 21111 school pupils aged 6 to 18 years consisting of 10858 girls (51.4%) and 10253 boys (48.6%) have been studied. 5.2% of them were obese and 9.4% overweight. The mean times of moderate and vigorous physical activity were 4.7 and 0.8 hours everyday. Boys were more active than girls (p<0.05) and primary school students were more active than high school students (p<0.05). Watching television, using the computer, or playing video games were the most common sedentary activity in students.
Conclusion: Physical activity in our subjects was in acceptable level. Boys tend to be more active than girls, and there is a decrease in activity over the adolescent years.

Keywords
Physical activity , Lifestyle , non-communicable diseases , Obesity , Prevention