Evaluation of Physical Activity, Sedentary Patterns, and Lifestyle Behavior in Spanish Preschool Children from the CORALS Cohort
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ISSN: 2199-1170
E-ISSN: 2198-9761
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Springer Open
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Abstract
Background
Physical activity (PA) and sedentary lifestyle are recognized as modifiable risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Healthy habits in early childhood tend to persist throughout life. This study aims to evaluate the physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns in a cohort of Spanish preschool children using device-based measures, and compare these patterns by sex. This study analyzed a sample of 643 preschoolers aged 3–6 years with valid accelerometry data from the Childhood Obesity Risk Assessment Longitudinal Study (CORALS) cohort (NCT06317883; May 30, 2024).
Results
67% of preschoolers met the international PA recommendations, with 72.1 min of moderate-vigorous PA(MVPA) per day. Boys exhibited higher levels of MVPA than girls, and MVPA increased with age in both groups. Sedentary time was higher on weekends, and boys spent more time watching TV than girls. Involvement in extracurricular
sports was reported by 67.5% of children, with boys showing a greater engagement in outdoor activities.
Conclusions
A relevant proportion of Spanish preschool children meet the international PA recommendations, with variations based on sex, age, and day of the week, reflecting global trends at this stage of life. Future interven‑
tions should address sex-specific preferences and age-related changes to enhance the effectiveness of promoting active lifestyles in this population.
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Jurado-Castro, J. M., Pastor-Villaescusa, B., Castro-Collado, C., Gil-Campos, M., Leis, R., Babio, N., Moreno, L. A., Navas-Carretero, S., Portolés, O., Echeverría, A. M., De La Torre-Aguilar, M. J., Picáns-Leis, R., Salas-Salvadó, J., de Miguel-Etayo, P., Flores-Rojas, K., Vázquez-Cobela, R., Sales, J. V., Miguel-Berges, M. L., Izquierdo-López, I., Gómez-Martínez, C., … CORAL Study investigators (2025). Evaluation of Physical Activity, Sedentary Patterns, and Lifestyle Behavior in Spanish Preschool Children from the CORALS Cohort. Sports medicine - open, 11(1), 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-025-00865-2
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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-025-00865-2Sponsors
Funds for the establishment of the CORALS cohort in the first year of the study (2019) were provided by an agreement between the Danone Institute from Spain and the CIBEROBN. The CORALS study is partially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO 21/2021) and the Department of Education, Gobierno de Navarra (0000-RES1-2020-000338).
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The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/
Attribution 4.0 International
Attribution 4.0 International