Quality of life & meeting the Singapore integrated 24-hour activity guidelines among children

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the proportion of primary school children meeting The Singapore Integrated 24-Hour Activity Guidelines, and the association between guideline adherence and health-related quality of life. A total of 156 parents completed an online and anonymous questionnaire on their child’s lifestyle behaviours. Meeting the guidelines meant having, within a 24-hour period, (i) ≥ 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (ii) ≤ 2 h of screen time (iii) ≥ 9 h of sleep and (iv) nutritionally-balanced meals planned with My Healthy Plate. The Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryTM was used to determine the children's quality of life. Parent-reported data showed that no child met all four guidelines and 34.9% met none. 47.7% met one guideline, 13.9% met two guidelines, and 3.5% met three guidelines. 29.0%, 28.6%, 20.7%, and 2.7% of children met the diet, screen time, sleep, and physical activity guidelines respectively. Our findings revealed that the health-related quality of life of children increased with the number of guidelines met, though not statistically significant [rs(84)=.120, p=.272]. There were no significant differences in health-related quality of life among children who met none, one, two, and three of the guidelines [χ2(3)=1.904, p=.593]. There were also no significant gender differences in the lifestyle behaviours, though boys met a maximum of two guidelines while girls met a maximum of three.