Prevalence of physical activity and sedentary-related behaviors among adolescents: data from the Qatar National School Survey

Abstract Objectives To investigate the prevalence of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors among adolescents in Qatar by selected demographic characteristics. Study design Cross-sectional study. Methods A total of 5862 students (2938 boys and 2924 girls) in the age group 12–17 years were included in the analyses. PA and sedentary-related measures were obtained from the self-reported survey questions. Results Only 35.4% of students were performing 60 min of PA ≥3 days/week. The proportion of students with >2 hr screentime ranged from 43% to 57% (weekdays) and 50% to 62.5% (weekends). Girls had less odds of being physically active than the boys (odds ratio [OR] = 0.61, P P P P P Conclusions The study describes insufficient PA among youth as a public health issue of concern in the State of Qatar that requires multipronged health promotion initiatives.