ArticleThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2017
Describing objectively measured physical activity levels, patterns, and correlates in a cross sectional sample of infants and toddlers from South Africa.
Article in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Validity and Reliability of Questionnaires That Assess Barriers and Facilitators of Sedentary Behavior in the Pediatric Population: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Measurement of screen time among young children aged 0-6 years: A systematic review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of cut-point methods on classification of physical activity and sedentary behaviour of toddlers.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- The Feasibility and Acceptability of an App-Based Intervention Aimed at Improving Maternal Health Literacy Regarding Infant Play and Development: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Trial
- Quantifying infants' everyday restrained experiences in the home using wearable inertial sensors.Behavior research methods · 2026Article
- Race/Ethnicity and Change in Physical Activity From Infancy to Preschool Age.Pediatric exercise science · 2026Article
- A Novel Workflow to Estimate Limb Orientation from Wearable Sensors to Monitor Infant Motor Development.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Examining maternal health literacy as a mediator of the relationship between social vulnerability and caregiving practices for improving infant development.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Acceptability, validity and responsiveness of inertial measurement units for assessing motor recovery after gene therapy in infants with early onset spinal muscular atrophy: a prospective cohort study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Article
- Behavioral, Environmental, and Demographic Factors Associated with Objectively Measured Physical Activity in Infants.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2022Article
- Associations between abdominal adiposity, body size and objectively measured physical activity in infants from Soweto, South Africa.Maternal and child health journal · 2022Article
- Role of Spanish Toddlers' Education and Care Institutions in Achieving Physical Activity Recommendations in the COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Objective Measurement of 24-Hour Movement Behaviors in Preschool Children Using Wrist-Worn and Thigh-Worn Accelerometers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Observational
- A qualitative study reporting maternal perceptions of the importance of play for healthy growth and development in the first two years of life.BMC pediatrics · 2020Article
- Physical Activity and Adiposity in a Racially Diverse Cohort of US Infants.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2020Article
- Discrimination of wear and non-wear in infants using data from hip- and ankle-worn devices.PloS one · 2020Article
- Physical Activity Patterns and Correlates of 9-Month-Old Chinese Infants in the Macau Population.Maternal and child health journal · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPhysical activity is considered to have health benefits across the lifespan but levels, patterns, and correlates have not been well described in infants and toddlers under the age of two years.
methodsThis study aimed to describe objectively and subjectively measured physical activity in a group of South African infants aged 3- to 24-months (n = 140), and to investigate individual and maternal correlates of physical activity in this sample. Infants' physical activity was measured using an Axivity AX3 wrist-worn accelerometer for one week and the mean vector magnitude was calculated. In addition, mothers reported the average amount of time their infant spent in various types of activities (including in front of the TV), their beliefs about infants' physical activity, access to equipment in the home environment, and ages of motor development milestone attainment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and pair-wise correlations were used to test age and sex differences and associations with potential correlates.
resultsThere were significant age and sex effects on the distribution of time spent at different physical activity intensities (Wilks' lambda = 0.06, p < 0.01). In all cases, the trend was for boys to spend more time in higher intensity physical activity and less time in lower intensity activity than girls; and for time spent in higher intensity activities to be higher in older children. Time spent outside was higher in boys, and this reached significance at 18-months (F = 3.84, p = 0.02). Less concern around floor play was associated with higher physical activity at 12-months in females only (p = 0.03, r = 0.54), and no other maternal beliefs were correlated with physical activity. The majority (94%) of children were exceeding TV time recommendations. When controlling for age and sex, overall TV time was positively associated with BMI z-score (β=0.01, p = 0.05).
conclusionThis study is the first to show sex and age differences in the patterns of physical activity, and to report on objectively measured and maternal reported physical activity and sedentary behaviour in the first two years of life in South Africa infants. Infants and toddlers should be provided with as many opportunities to be active through play as possible, and TV time should be limited.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.