AUTHOR=Argumedo Gabriela , López y Taylor Juan Ricardo , Ortiz Brunel Julissa , Gaytán-González Alejandro , González-Casanova Inés , González Villalobos Martín Francisco , Jáuregui Alejandra , Jáuregui Ulloa Edtna , Medina Catalina , Pacheco Miranda Yoali Selene , Pérez Rodríguez Marcela , Retano Pelayo Ricardo Alejandro , Rodríguez Martínez María del Pilar , Galaviz Karla I. TITLE=Results from the 2022 Mexican report card on physical activity for children and adolescents JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=11 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1304719 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1304719 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=Introduction

The Mexican Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents aims to assess the prevalence of movement behaviors and opportunities to perform them.

Methods

Data on 11 indicators were obtained from national health surveys, census data, government documents, websites, and published studies. Data were compared against established benchmarks, and a grade between 0 and 10 was assigned to each indicator.

Results

For Daily Behaviors, we found 34.5% of Mexican children and adolescents meet Physical Activity recommendations (Grade 3), 48.4% participate in Organized Sports (Grade 5), 35–75.8% engage in Active Play outdoors (Grade 4), 54.1% use Active Transportation (Grade 5), 43.6% spend <2 h in Sedentary Behavior per day (Grade 4), and 65–91% meet Sleep recommendations (Grade 7). Girls have lower physical activity levels and sports participation than boys of the same age. For Physical Fitness, we found 56.2–61.8% of children and adolescents have an adequate body mass index for their age (Grade 6). For Sources of Influence, we found 65–67% of parents engage in physical activity or sports in a week (Grade 7), 32.2–53.3% of basic education schools have a physical education teacher (Grade 6), and 37% of neighborhoods in Mexico have sidewalks with trees (Grade 4). Regarding Government, several policies and programs aimed at improving children physical activity were launched but their impact and allocated implementation budget are unknown (Grade 6).

Discussion

Mexican children and adolescents engage in low levels of movement behaviors and have limited opportunities to perform such behaviors. The grades and recommendations provided here should be considered to improve such opportunities.