Aimed to explore the trends in physical activity among Chinese children, data of 4,341 children aged 6-17 years who participated in at least one round of "China Health and Nutrition Survey" from 2004 to 2015 were analyzed. Repeated measures mixed models were applied to test the trends in physical activity, which were further analyzed after applying stratification on gender, age, urbanization level, residential area and region. The volume of total physical activity in Chinese children aged 6-17 years showed a downward trend from 2004 to 2015, especially among children residing in medium and high urbanization communities, the south and urban areas of China, so that more efforts need to be put to promote their physical activity.
Adolescent ; Child ; China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Demography ; Exercise ; Female ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Male ; Socioeconomic Factors

Objective: This study was aimed at examining the trends and correlates of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors among Chinese children. Methods: A total of 4,341 subjects (6,936 observations) aged 6-17 years who participated in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (2004-2015) were included. Of the subjects, 41% participated in the survey twice or more. Random-effects ordinal regression models and repeated-measures mixed-effects models were used to examine the PA trends. Quantile regression models were applied to examine the factors influencing PA and sedentary behaviors. Results: From 2004 to 2015, the prevalence of physical inactivity among Chinese children aged 6-17 years increased by 5.5% [odds ratio ( Conclusions A declining PA trend among Chinese children aged 6-17 years was observed from 2004 to 2015, and certain subgroups and geographical areas are at higher risk of physical inactivity.
Adolescent ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group/statistics & numerical data* ; Child ; Child Behavior/ethnology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Exercise ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Regression Analysis ; Sedentary Behavior/ethnology*