Advancing the global physical activity agenda: recommendations for future research by the 2020 WHO physical activity and sedentary behavior guidelines development group

Loretta DiPietro; Salih Saad Al-Ansari; Stuart J H Biddle; Katja Borodulin; Fiona C Bull; Matthew P Buman; Greet Cardon; Catherine Carty; Jean-Philippe Chaput; Sebastien Chastin; Roger Chou; Paddy C Dempsey; Ulf Ekelund; Joseph Firth; Christine M Friedenreich; Leandro Garcia; Muthoni Gichu; Russell Jago; Peter T Katzmarzyk; Estelle Lambert; Michael Leitzmann; Karen Milton; Francisco B Ortega; Chathuranga Ranasinghe; Emmanuel Stamatakis; Anne Tiedemann; Richard P Troiano; Hidde P van der Ploeg; Juana F Willumsen

doi:10.1186/s12966-020-01042-2

Advancing the global physical activity agenda: recommendations for future research by the 2020 WHO physical activity and sedentary behavior guidelines development group

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2020 Nov 26;17(1):143. doi: 10.1186/s12966-020-01042-2.

Authors

Loretta DiPietro¹, Salih Saad Al-Ansari², Stuart J H Biddle³, Katja Borodulin^{4

5}, Fiona C Bull^{6

7}, Matthew P Buman⁸, Greet Cardon⁹, Catherine Carty¹⁰, Jean-Philippe Chaput¹¹, Sebastien Chastin¹², Roger Chou¹³, Paddy C Dempsey^{14

15

16}, Ulf Ekelund¹⁷, Joseph Firth^{18

19}, Christine M Friedenreich²⁰, Leandro Garcia²¹, Muthoni Gichu²², Russell Jago²³, Peter T Katzmarzyk²⁴, Estelle Lambert²⁵, Michael Leitzmann²⁶, Karen Milton²⁷, Francisco B Ortega²⁸, Chathuranga Ranasinghe²⁹, Emmanuel Stamatakis³⁰, Anne Tiedemann³¹, Richard P Troiano³², Hidde P van der Ploeg³³, Juana F Willumsen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. ldp1@gwu.edu.
² Health Promotion Center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
³ Centre for Health Research, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield, Australia.
⁴ Age Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ Public Health Evaluation and Projection Unit, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
⁶ Physical Activity Unit, Department of Health Promotion, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁷ School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
⁸ College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA.
⁹ Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
¹⁰ UNESCO Chair, Institute of Technology Tralee, Tralee, Ireland.
¹¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa, Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Group, Ontario, Canada.
¹² School of Health and Life Sciences, Institute for Applied Health Research, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK.
¹³ Departments of Medicine, and Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
¹⁴ MRC Epidemiology Unit, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁵ Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia.
¹⁶ Diabetes Research Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester, UK.
¹⁷ Department of Chronic Disease and Ageing, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Department of Sport Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Science, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁸ Division of Psychology and Mental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
¹⁹ NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia.
²⁰ Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Cancer Control Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Canada.
²¹ Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
²² Department of Non-Communicable Diseases, Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya.
²³ Centre for Exercise Nutrition and Health Sciences, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
²⁴ Population and Public Health Sciences, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
²⁵ Research Centre for Health through Physical Acivity, Lifestyle and Sport, Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
²⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
²⁷ Norwich Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
²⁸ PROFITH (PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity) research group, Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Research Institute of Sport and Health, University of Granada, Spain 26. Sports and Exercise Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
²⁹ Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
³⁰ Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, The University of Sydney, and Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, Australia.
³¹ Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, USA.
³² Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
³³ Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

Abstract

Background: In July, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) commenced work to update the 2010 Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health and established a Guideline Development Group (GDG) comprising expert public health scientists and practitioners to inform the drafting of the 2020 Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior. The overall task of the GDG was to review the scientific evidence and provide expert advice to the WHO on the amount of physical activity and sedentary behavior associated with optimal health in children and adolescents, adults, older adults (> 64 years), and also specifically in pregnant and postpartum women and people living with chronic conditions or disabilities.

Methods: The GDG reviewed the available evidence specific to each sub-population using systematic protocols and in doing so, identified a number of gaps in the existing literature. These proposed research gaps were discussed and verified by expert consensus among the entire GDG.

Results: Evidence gaps across population sub-groups included a lack of information on: 1) the precise shape of the dose-response curve between physical activity and/or sedentary behavior and several of the health outcomes studied; 2) the health benefits of light-intensity physical activity and of breaking up sedentary time with light-intensity activity; 3) differences in the health effects of different types and domains of physical activity (leisure-time; occupational; transportation; household; education) and of sedentary behavior (occupational; screen time; television viewing); and 4) the joint association between physical activity and sedentary time with health outcomes across the life course. In addition, we acknowledge the need to conduct more population-based studies in low- and middle-income countries and in people living with disabilities and/or chronic disease, and to identify how various sociodemographic factors (age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status) modify the health effects of physical activity, in order to address global health disparities.

Conclusions: Although the 2020 WHO Guidelines for Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior were informed by the most up-to-date research on the health effects of physical activity and sedentary time, there is still substantial work to be done in advancing the global physical activity agenda.

Keywords: Physical activity; Recommendations; Research; Sedentary behavior.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Child
Chronic Disease
Disabled Persons
Exercise*
Female
Guidelines as Topic*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Population Health
Postpartum Period
Pregnancy
Pregnant Women
Research*
Sedentary Behavior*
World Health Organization*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding