International Study of Movement Behaviours in the Early Years (SUNRISE): A Pilot Study From Ecuador.
José Francisco López-Gil, Emily Cisneros-Vásquez, José Adrián Montenegro-Espinosa and 9 others
Only 11.8% of 108 Ecuadorian preschool children met all three WHO movement guidelines.
Boys outperformed girls in physical activity and lower-body strength, while girls scored higher on inhibitory control. The protocol was workable in this setting.
Key findings
1Only 11.8% of children met all three WHO 24-hour movement guidelines (physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep).
2Boys were significantly more likely than girls to meet the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and total physical activity guidelines.
316.1% of children met none of the guidelines, with a higher proportion among girls than boys.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Cross-sectional design: no causal inferences can be drawn between movement behaviours and developmental outcomes. Convenience sample of 108 children from a single province (Pichincha/Quito); not representative of all Ecuadorian preschoolers. Urban and rural kindergartens were geographically close, which may have narrowed the true urban-rural gap. 15 children had missing accelerometer data, and parent-reported sleep and screen time are subject to recall and social desirability bias. Pilot size: the sample was chosen to test feasibility, not to detect small clinical differences.
Declared interests
Funded by Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo (UEES), the institution where the Ecuadorian data collection was based. No industry funding or competing interests are declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the sex differences in motor skills or physical activity as a reason to set different expectations for boys and girls. The sample is 108 children from one province, the design is cross-sectional, and the differences are small. A child who scores below the median on the standing long jump is not 'behind' because of their sex, and a girl who scores lower on the pegboard does not need a different intervention plan.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →