The Amount of Light to Vigorous Physical Activity (Met's-Hours/Day) in Children with and without Down Syndrome Attending Elementary School in Japan

Erika Yamanaka; Takayo Inayama; Kanzo Okazaki; Tsubasa Nakada; Michio Kojima; Ichiro Kita; Kazunori Ohkawara

doi:10.3390/ijerph20021293

The Amount of Light to Vigorous Physical Activity (Met's-Hours/Day) in Children with and without Down Syndrome Attending Elementary School in Japan

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 11;20(2):1293. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20021293.

Authors

Erika Yamanaka¹, Takayo Inayama², Kanzo Okazaki³, Tsubasa Nakada⁴, Michio Kojima⁵, Ichiro Kita¹, Kazunori Ohkawara⁴

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan.
² Department of Food and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, and Human Development, The University of Nagano, Nagano 380-8525, Japan.
³ Department of Human Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Tohoku Gakuin University, Sendai 981-3193, Japan.
⁴ Graduate School of Informatics and Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan.
⁵ Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tokyo 112-0012, Japan.

Abstract

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have physical characteristics such as hypotonus of the musculature. Therefore, their attainment rate of physical activity guidelines is low, and guidelines alone may not be sufficient in assessing the amount of physical activity in children with DS. Compared with normal children (NC) of the same grade, light physical activity (LPA) must be considered while assessing physical activity of children with DS, owing to muscle hypotonia. This study included 69 children with DS and 68 NC in grades 4−6 attending elementary school in Japan. The measurements for physical characteristics included age, height, weight, and body mass index. Physical activity was measured using a triaxial accelerometer, which indicated physical activity volume. Children with DS had less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity duration (DS: 53.1 min/day, NC: 65.0 min/day; p < 0.001) but significantly longer LPA duration (DS: 376.4 min/day, NC: 287.7 min/day; p < 0.001) than NC. Conversely, the amount of light to vigorous physical activity (Met’s-hours/day) was greater in children with DS (DS: 16.0 Met’s-hours/day, NC: 14.4 Met’s-hours/day; p = 0.037). In children with DS with muscular hypotonia, vigorous physical activity is challenging, but LPA is feasible. Developing and validating educational programs that promote physical activity with intensity level depending on individual’s physical characteristic are warranted.

Keywords: Down syndrome; Japanese elementary school students; light physical activity; light-to-vigorous physical activity; moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; physical activity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Accelerometry
Body Mass Index
Child
Down Syndrome*
Exercise / physiology
Humans
Japan
Schools

Grants and funding

The present study was supported by grants-in-aid of The Nakatani Suzuyo Memorial Fund for Nutrition and Dietetics, Tokyo, Japan (grant number 157-No. 2-04-4); the Sasakawa Sports Foundation, Japan (grant year 2018); and JSPS KAKENHI (grant number 17K01791). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection or analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.