Physical activity in brazilian adolescents: a systematic review

Resumen

The present study aims to review the literature on studies in the area of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in Brazilian adolescents. Systematic review of the literature. The search was carried out in electronic databases and references of the papers identifi ed. The following keywords, in English and Portuguese, were used: “exercise”, “physical effort”, “physical fitness”, “sports”, “motor activity”, “physical activity”, “energetic metabolism”, “health behavior”, “lifestyle”, “risk factors”, “adolescent”, “adolescence”, “youth”, and “students”. The electronic search resulted in 653 manuscripts. The process of analysis included examination of titles, abstracts and full texts. After all these phases, 15 papers fulfi lled the inclusion criteria of the review. In the references of these papers, six extra relevant publications were identifi ed, totalizing 21 papers. In terms of the design, only two studies used the case-control approach; all others were cross-sectional. Twelve studies were classifi ed as having an adequate sampling strategy, and presented a description of the sampling methods. A single study provided information on the quality of the measurements (validity) and previous testing of the instruments. Six studies included simultaneously measurements of physical activity and sedentary behaviors. There is a wide methodological variability across the national studies on physical activity and sedentary behavior. However, there is a homogeneity in the designs used, highlighting the need of longitudinal studies in the area.