Device-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior among primary school children in Morocco.

Background: Little is known about device-measured levels of physical activity and sedentary behavior among primary-school aged children in Morocco.
Purpose: To examine the proportion of children meeting the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) physical activity guideline and day type (weekday and weekend) differences in device-measured moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behaviour among primary school children in Rabat, Morocco.
Methods: Consenting Grade 5 and 6 students from nine primary schools wore a wrist-worn Axivity (AX3) accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Data files were processed in R (version 4.3.0) using the GGIR package (version 3.0.6). For data inclusion, accelerometer wear time criteria were ≥10 h/day for a minimum of four days (including one weekend day). Means and standard deviations were reported for average time spent in MVPA and sedentary behaviour, and independent samples t-tests were conducted to examine the differences in these behaviours across day types.
Results: The analytical sample included 401 students, of which 65% met the physical activity guideline. Children spent an average of 76.26 (± 30.48) minutes per day in MVPA across the week. Minutes in MVPA were significantly lower (73.48 ± 28.08 vs. 83.21 ± 43.30 min/day; p < 0.001) and minutes in sedentary behaviour were significantly higher (656.36 ± 78.95 vs. 593.45 ± 110.66 min/day; p < 0.001) on weekdays compared to weekend days, respectively.
Conclusions: Just over half of primary school children in this sample met the physical activity guideline. Lower levels of MVPA and higher levels of sedentary behaviour on school days are concerning.
Practical implications: These findings justify investment into school-based interventions to promote healthier levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in this under-researched population.
Funding: This project was funded by the Royal Moroccan Federation of School Sports