Public health preventive measures and child health behaviours during COVID-19: a cohort study

• DOI: 10.17269/s41997-021-00549-w
• Publication Date: 2021-07-07T11:02:59Z
• Authors: Xuedi Li; Leigh M. Vanderloo; Jonathon L. Maguire; Charles D. G. Keo...; Mary Aglipay; Laura N. Anderson; Katherine Tombeau...; Alice Charach; Shelley M. Vander...; Catherine S. Birken; ; Catherine S. Birken; Jonathon L. Maguire; Ronald Cohn; Eddy Lau; Andreas Laupacis; Patricia C. Parkin; Michael Salter; Shannon Weir-Seeley; Laura N. Anderson; Cornelia M. Borkhoff; Charles Keown-Sto...; Christine Kowal; Dalah Mason; Murtala Abdurrahman; Kelly Anderson; Gordon Arbess; Jillian Baker; Tony Barozzino; Sylvie Bergeron; Gary Bloch; Joey Bonifacio; Ashna Bowry; Caroline Calpin; Douglas Campbell; Sohail Cheema; Elaine Cheng; Brian Chisamore; Evelyn Constantin; Karoon Danayan; Paul Das; Mary Beth Derocher; Anh Do; Kathleen Doukas; Anne Egger; Allison Farber; Amy Freedman; Sloane Freeman; Sharon Gazeley; Charlie Guiang; Dan Ha; Curtis Handford; Laura Hanson; Leah Harrington; Sheila Jacobson; Lukasz Jagiello; Gwen Jansz; Paul Kadar; Tara Kiran; Holly Knowles; Bruce Kwok; Sheila Lakhoo; Margarita Lam-Ant...; Eddy Lau; Denis Leduc; Fok-Han Leung; Alan Li; Patricia Li; Jessica Malach; Roy Male; Aleks Meret; Elise Mok; Rosemary Moodie; Katherine Nash; Sharon Naymark; James Owen; Michael Peer; Marty Perlmutar; Navindra Persaud; Andrew Pinto; Michelle Porepa; Vikky Qi; Noor Ramji; Danyaal Raza; Alana Rosenthal; Katherine Rouleau; Caroline Ruderman; Janet Saunderson; Vanna Schiralli; Michael Sgro; Hafiz Shuja; Susan Shepherd; Barbara Smiltnieks; Cinntha Srikanthan; Carolyn Taylor; Stephen Treherne; Suzanne Turner; Fatima Uddin; Meta van den Heuvel; Thea Weisdorf; Peter Wong; John Yaremko; Ethel Ying; Elizabeth Young; Michael Zajdman; Marivic Bustos; Pamela Ruth Flores; Mateenah Jaleel; Tarandeep Malhi; Ataat Malick; Michelle Mitchell; Martin Ogwuru; Frank Ong; Rejina Rajendran; Sharon Thadani; Julia Thompson; Laurie Thompson; Mary Aglipay; Imaan Bayoumi; Sarah Carsley; Katherine Cost; Karen Eny; Laura Kinlin; Jessica Omand; Shelley Vanderhout; Leigh Vanderloo; Christopher Allen; Bryan Boodhoo; Peter Juni; Gurpreet Lakhanpal; Gerald Lebovic; Audra Stitt; Rita Kandel; Michelle Rodrigues
• Keywords: Male; Canada; Health Behavior; COVID-19; Cohort Studies; 03 medical and health sciences; Special Section on COVID-19: Quantitative Research; 0302 clinical medicine; Child, Preschool; Humans; Female; Public Health; Child

Abstract Objective The primary objective was to determine the association between public health preventive measures and children’s outdoor time, sleep duration, and screen time during COVID-19.

Methods A cohort study using repeated measures of exposures and outcomes was conducted in healthy children (0 to 10 years) through The Applied Research Group for Kids (TARGet Kids!) COVID-19 Study of Children and Families in Toronto, Canada, between April 14 and July 15, 2020. Parents were asked to complete questionnaires about adherence to public health measures and children’s health behaviours. The primary exposure was the average number of days that children practiced public health preventive measures per week. The three outcomes were children’s outdoor time, total screen time, and sleep duration during COVID-19. Linear mixed-effects models were fitted using repeated measures of primary exposure and outcomes.

Results This study included 554 observations from 265 children. The mean age of participants was 5.5 years, 47.5% were female and 71.6% had mothers of European ethnicity. Public health preventive measures were associated with shorter outdoor time (−17.2; 95% CI −22.07, −12.40; p < 0.001) and longer total screen time (11.3; 95% CI 3.88, 18.79; p = 0.003) during COVID-19. The association with outdoor time was stronger in younger children (<5 years), and the associations with total screen time were stronger in females and in older children (≥5 years).

Conclusion Public health preventive measures during COVID-19 were associated with a negative impact on the health behaviours of Canadian children living in a large metropolitan area.