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- Motor Competence in Children With and Without AmbliopiaPublication . Sá, Cristina; Luz, Carlos; Pombo, André; Rodrigues, Luis P.; Cordovil, R.The purpose of this study was to assess the motor competence of children with and without amblyopia. Study participants were 165 primary school children, aged 6–9 years, divided into three groups based on their visual acuity with the Snellen chart: (a) non-amblyopia, (b) corrected amblyopia, and (c) non-corrected amblyopia. We assessed the children’s motor competence with the Motor Competence Assessment battery (MCA) and their physical activity with the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C). The non-amblyopia group presented significantly better motor competence on the MCA than either the corrected amblyopia group or the non-corrected amblyopia group; there were no statistically significant motor differences between the two amblyopia subgroups. Amblyopia versus non-amblyopia differences on the MCA were mainly in stability and locomotor components, involving dynamic balance and the change of spatial position and direction of movement, but not in the manipulative component (ball throwing velocity and ball kicking velocity). Predictably, from within an integrated visual motor perspective of child development, our findings suggest that intact vision played an important role in children’s motor competence. The development of fundamental motor skills, especially of stability and locomotor skills, may be affected by poor visual processing in that participants with uncorrected amblyopia showed poor movement accuracy, uncoordinated movement, and impaired balance.
- Correlates of children's physical activity during the COVID-19 confinement in PortugalPublication . Pombo, André; Luz, Carlos; Rodrigues, Luis P.; Ferreira, C.; Cordovil, R.Objectives: The aim of the study was to understand the role of household variables on the percentage of physical activity (%PA) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) confinement in Portugal. Study design: A cross-sectional study design using an anonymous online survey was launched to assess how Portuguese families with children aged younger than 13 years adjusted their daily routines to the confinement. Methods: Separate analyses of variance were performed to investigate how factors such as the number of children, age, sex, the housing characteristics, and the adults' job situation can affect the percentage of time for PA (%PA). Results: Findings, based on data from 2159 children, indicate that (1) boys and girls did not differ in the %PA on any of the age-groups; (2) children with an outdoor space and who had other children in the household were significantly more active (P < .001); (3) children from families with all adults working from home showed lower levels of %PA; and (4) being younger, having a big outdoor space, having other children in the household, and having at least one adult free from working from home were significant positive predictors of children's %PA, explaining 21% of the overall variance. Conclusion: Time allocated for PA during this period is reduced compared with what is usually reported on normal days. It is necessary to find strategies to increase children's PA, especially in families in which both parents are working and have no outdoor space.
- Influences of family and household characteristics on children’s level of physical activity during social distancing due to covid-19 in BrazilPublication . Siegle, Cristhina; Pombo, André; Luz, Carlos; Rodrigues, Luis P.; Cordovil, R.; Sá, CristinaObjective: To evaluate if the variables child’s sex, age, presence of siblings, parents working remotely, and external space affect the level of physical activity (PA) of Brazilian children during social distancing imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: An online questionnaire was applied by the LimeSurvey software from March to April 2020. Children were divided into four age groups, and the questionnaire comprised questions on family and household characteristics, domestic and children’s routines in the period of Brazilian social distancing. Based on the answers concerning children’s activities, the following variable was created: percentage of physical activity (%PA) in one-day period. Analysis of variance and regression analysis were performed to investigate the effect of demographic and parental activities on %PA. Results: The %PA decreases with increasing age, but increases with the availability of external space at home. No significant or interaction effects were observed for other variables. Age and external space at home are predictors of %PA. Conclusions: Household and personal characteristics of Brazilian children influence the level of physical activity performed by them during social
- Covid-19 social isolation in Brazil: effects on the physical activity routine of families with childrenPublication . Sá, Cristina; Pombo, André; Luz, Carlos; Rodrigues, Luis P.; Cordovil, R.Objective: To identify how Brazilian families with children aged under 13 years face the period of social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially regarding the time spent on physical activity (PA), intellectual activity, games, outdoor activities and screen. Methods: An anonymous online survey was launched on March 24, 2020 in Brazil to assess how families with children aged up to 12 years are adjusting their daily routines to this situation. In the survey, each family reported the daily time each child spent in sedentary activity (sum of intellectual activities, play time on screen, playing without PA) and PA (sum of playing with PA and PA). Results: The main findings based on data from 816 children indicate that most parents consider there was a reduction in the time that children spend practicing PA; increase in screen play time and family activities, differences between sex were found regarding screen play time (boys>girls) and in playing without PA (girls>boys), and there was an age effect for all categories analyzed, with a tendency to increase the total time of sedentary lifestyle and complementary reducing the time of PA over age. Conclusions: The household routines of families during the period of social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic confirm the general reduction tendency in PA time during childhood.
- Effects of COVID-19 confinement on the household routines of children in PortugalPublication . Pombo, André; Luz, Carlos; Rodrigues, Luis Paulo; Cordovil, R.The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 disease (COVID-19) was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March, 2020. Since then, physical distancing measures such as confinement have been adopted by different governments to control human to human transmission. This study aimed to determine how confinement affects children’s routines, more specifically their physical activity (PA) and sedentary time. An online survey was launched to assess how Portuguese children under 13 years of age adjusted their daily routines to confinement. Parents reported the time each child was engaged in different activities throughout the day, which was used to calculate overall sedentary time and overall physical activity time. Based on the data of 2159 children, our study showed that during confinement: (i) there was a decrease in children’s physical activity time and an increase in screen time and family activities; (ii) boys engaged in more playful screen Time than girls (p < 0.05), and girls played more without PA than boys (p < 0.05); (iii) along the age groups, there was a trend for an increase of the overall sedentary time and an associated decrease of the overall physical activity time. In summary, PA of confined children showed low levels and a clear decreasing trend along childhood. Conjoint family and societal strategies to target specific age groups should be organized in the future.
- Do children’s previous physical activity habits influence their behaviors during the Covid-19 social distancing period?Publication . Siegle, Cristhina; Pombo, André; Luz, Carlos; Rodrigues, Luis P.; Cordovil, R.; Sá, CristinaObjective: Verify whether the practice of physical activity, before the social distancing imposed by COVID-19, influences children’s routines during this period, in children of different ages. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study carried out with an online questionnaire from LimeSurvey and disseminated for four months during social distancing. The questionnaire contained questions about family composition, household characteristics, household and children’s routines, including habits such as sleeping, physical activity, intellectual activity, playing with and without physical activity, and screen time. The final sample consisted of 916 participating families that answered about the physical activity habits of their respective children before the pandemic. Children were divided into three age groups (three to five years, six to nine years, and ten to twelve years). Independent Student’s t-tests were performed to investigate whether the previous practice of scheduled physical activity group and the no physical activity group differed as to the time dedicated to children’s activities and routines (intellectual activity, sleeping, screen time, playing with and without physical activity), by age groups, during social distancing. Results: There was a decrease in the levels of physical activity undertaken by Brazilian children during social distancing. There was no difference when both groups. The children with previous practice of scheduled physical activity did not display different habits from the children who did not adopt this practice. Conclusions: The practice of physical activity before social distancing did not influence the level of physical activity and other habits during social distancing. Healthy habits should be encouraged and targeted for all children during the pandemic. These findings can contribute to the formulation of public policies for children during pandemic times.
- Excesso ponderal e pressão arterial em crianças do 1º CicloPublication . Moreira, Ana Catarina; Borrego, Rute; Machado, Margarida; Pombo, André; Costa, Vânia; Almeida, Ana Maria; Tavares, Ana Sofia; Sá, Cristina; Cordovil, R.; Luz, CarlosIntrodução: Portugal é o 6.° país da União Europeia cuja prevalência de excesso de peso e obesidade ultrapassa os 30%. As crianças obesas apresentam risco mais elevado para hipertensão arterial do que crianças não obesas, risco que aumenta com o aumento do IMC e não apenas na classificação de obesidade. A hipertensão arterial é um dos principais factores de risco modificável de doenças cardiovasculares. A sua incidência e prevalência em crianças tem aumentado nas últimas décadas, principalmente, nos países desenvolvidos. Crianças com hipertensão arterial tendem a ser adultos hipertensos com elevado número de morbilidades associadas. Como tal, a sua prevenção deve iniciar-se o mais precocemente possível. Métodos: Estudo transversal em crianças do 1º ciclo, com avaliação nutricional por parâmetros antropométricos e de pressão arterial. A avaliação nutricional incluiu peso e altura para cálculo do índice de massa corporal (IMC), prega cutânea tricipital e prega subescapular para cálculo da percentagem de massa gorda (%MG) através da equação de Slaughter, e o perímetro da cintura para a razão cintura/altura. Para a medição da pressão arterial foi utilizado um tensiómetro de braço, OMRON® M6, realizadas duas medições da pressão arterial sistólica e a pressão arterial diastólica com um intervalo de alguns minutos e classificada de acordo com o percentil de altura (National High Blood Pressure Education Program, 2004). A análise estatística foi efectuada com programa IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Resultados: Foram incluídos 181 crianças, 90 (49,7%) do sexo masculino, entre os 5 e os 10 anos com idade, média 7,4n1,2 anos. De acordo com o IMC, a maioria (61,9%) apresentava eutrofia, 38 (21%) excesso ponderal e 29 (16%) obesidade. A razão perímetro da cintura/altura foi superior ao percentil 90, em 62 (32,4%) crianças. A classificação da %MG foi superior ao percentil 91 em 47 (26,3%) e destes, 21 (11,6%) foram classificados com percentil superior a 98. A pressão arterial sistólica estava elevada (>Percentil 90) em 6 (3,3%) crianças, enquanto a diastólica estava elevada em 44 (24,3%) crianças, das quais 25 (13,8%) acima do Percentil 95. Verificou-se uma correlação positiva entre a pressão arterial sistólica e diastólica e o Z-Score de IMC (r=0,328; p<0,000) e (r=0,263; p<0,000) ; e entre a %MG (r=0,271; p<0,000) e (r=0,187; p<0,000), enquanto apenas a sistólica mostrou correlação fraca com a razão cintura/altura (r=0,181; p=0,015). As crianças eutróficas apresentavam valores de pressão arterial inferiores aos das crianças com excesso ponderal e obesidade (sistólica: 88,5n10,0 vs 93,6n9,7; p=0,050) (diastólica: 61,7n9,3 vs 64,7n7,4; P=0,024). Conclusão: Estes dados confirmam a elevada prevalência de excesso de peso e pressão arterial elevada em crianças no 1º ciclo, bem como a sua associação. Cerca de 1/3 das crianças apresentava excesso ponderal e ¼ tinha valores de pressão arterial elevados. Apesar de num estudo transversal não serem avaliados factores de causalidade, a correlação observada entre a pressão arterial e excesso de peso, indica que futuras intervenções devem focar não apenas a obesidade, mas igualmente a pressão arterial, especialmente em crianças com excesso de peso.
- Avaliação da competência motora de crianças amblíopes e não amblíopes do primeiro cicloPublication . Sá, Cristina; Luz, Carlos; Pombo, André; Cordovil, R.Ambliopia refere-se ao prejuízo da visão espaço temporal uni ou bilateral durante os primeiros cinco anos de vida, podendo ser causada por qualquer condição que interfira com o foco ocular nessa idade. A consequência da não identificação e não tratamento da ambliopia precocemente pode causar prejuízo visual permanente e efeitos adversos: i) no desempenho escolar; ii), nas habilidades motoras grossas e finas; iii), na interação social e iv) autoimagem. Desta forma, a competência motora O desenvolvimento das habilidades motoras fundamentais poderá ser afetado por limitações visuais, pois um pobre défice no processamento visual leva a uma diminuição depobre precisão de movimento, movimentos não coordenados e prejuízo do equilíbrio, o que poderá ter consequências futuras ao nível da manutenção de um estilo de vida saudável, visto a competência motora ser preditora da atividade física em crianças e adolescência. Esse estudo avaliou a competência motora de crianças com ambliopia e sem ampliopia. Foram avaliadas 96 crianças do primeiro ciclo, de ambos os sexos, por meio da bateria motor compentence assessment (MCA) (LUZ et al., 2016), composta por seis tarefas quantitativas (duas tarefas de estabilidade, duas locomotoras e duas manipulativas), que permite avaliar a capacidade da criança ser proficiente em uma variedade de habilidades ou ações motoras finas ou grossas. A acuidade visual foi avaliada pelo teste de Snellen (KRONBAUER, SCHOR, CARVALHO, 2008; ZAPPAROLI, KLEIN, MOREIRA, 2009). Após a avaliação da acuidade visual e da competência motora. As crianças foram divididas em 3 grupos: G1- sem ambliopia (31 crianças), G2- com ambliopia corrigida (32 crianças) e G3 – com ambliopia não corrigida (33 crianças). Foi realizada ANOVA para comparar os grupos em cada tarefa do MCA. Os resultados indicaram que houve efeito de grupo para as tarefas de estabilidade: (1) saltos laterais (p<0,001), indicando que o G3 tem desempenho inferior em relação a G1 (p=0,01) e ao G2 (p<0,001); também houve efeito de grupo para a (2) transposição de plataformas (p=0,024), indicando que o G3 tem desempenho inferior ao G1 (p=0,028), mas não entre G3 e G2 (p=0,08). Para as tarefas locomotoras: (3) salto em profundidade, não houve diferença entre os grupos (p=0,131); e para o (4) shuttle run houve diferença entre os grupos (p=0,003), indicando que o G3 tem desempenho inferior ao G1 (p=0,002), mas não em relação ao G2 (p=0,06). Para as tarefas manipulativas: (5) lançar a bola, não houve diferença entre os grupos (p=0,430); assim como não houve efeito de grupo para (6) pontapear (p=0,492). Pode-se concluir que as crianças com ambliopia não corrigida apresentam menor desempenho nas tarefas: salto lateral, transposição de plataformas e shuttle run, tarefas de estabilidade e locomotora, respectivamente, em relação as crianças sem ambliopia, indicando menor habilidade dessas crianças em tarefas em que há interação com objetos.
- Effects of the COVID- 19 pandemic on preschool children and preschools in PortugalPublication . Cordovil, R.; Ribeiro, Luís; Moreira, Mariana; Pombo, André; Rodrigues, Luís Paulo; Luz, Carlos; Veiga, Guida; Lopes, FredericoProblem Statement:The COVID-19 pandemic led to significant changes in the life routines of preschool children, both during lockdown and post-lockdown periods. Approach:An online survey completed by parents, in-loco assessment scales filled in by a researcherand semi-structured interviews with preschool teacherswere used to investigate the effects of the adjustments, which occurred in preschool children’s lives, in the lockdown and post lockdown periods.Purpose:To characterize the levels of physical activity that Portuguese children had during the lockdown period and to understand what changed in their school routines in the post-lockdown period, regarding the organization of school spaces and routines.Results:Parents reported that children aged 3 to 5spent most of their time during lockdownundertaking sedentary activities (72% of their daily activities). In the post-lockdown period,results indicate that in June there was an increase in the number of preschools with a poor quality of environment compared to the pre-pandemic period (October/November).Taking into account the measures implemented in preschools to prevent the COVID-19 transmission,teachers were of the opinion that limiting the number of children sharing material was the worst measure imposed, since it hampered children’s socialization. Conversely, increasing the use of the outdoor space was deemed positive because it improved children’s happiness and action possibilities outside.Conclusions: TheCOVID-19pandemic has had a clear impact on Portuguese children’s overall levels of physical activity during lockdown. In some schools, the implementation of health guidelines has also led to further negative effects on children’s play opportunities. However, many schools seem to be successful in finding strategies to ensure a healthy balance between promoting children’s physical activity and ensuring risk control.
- Effects of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Portuguese Children’s Motor CompetencePublication . Pombo, André; Luz, Carlos; Sá, Cristina; Rodrigues, Luis P.; Cordovil, R.During long periods without school, children are more susceptible to unhealthy behaviors, such as an increase in sedentary behaviors, which has a negative impact on children’s motor competence (MC). The COVID-19 lockdown offered us a unique opportunity to test, in a quasi-experimental setting, the impact of lockdown movement restrictions on children’s MC. We assessed the motor competence of 114 children aged 6–9 years using the motor competence assessment. All children were tested before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Chi-square and 2 × 2 ANOVA (sex by moment) were used to further analyze the data. Regardless of sex, motor performances in all tests (except for jumping sideways in boys) were lower when compared with performances before lockdown. There was a marked decreasing trend in children’s levels of MC, shifting from an upper to a lower quartile in different tests. The results after the lockdown were always significantly inferior to the results before lockdown in all motor tests (except jumping sideways), in the three components of MC, and in global MC. Children’s global MC score decreased by an average of 13 points in boys and 16 points in girls. The imposed movement restrictions had a negative effect on children’s motor competence development.