The impact of COVID-19 on physical activity behaviour in Italian primary school children: a comparison before and during pandemic considering gender differences

Table 3 Gender differences between before and during COVID-19 pandemic (N = 77)

Variables	Before COVID-19		During COVID-19		Before and During COVID-19 Changes Mean ± SD		P value*
Variables	Boys (N = 48)	Girls (N = 29)	Boys (N = 48)	Girls (N = 29)	Boys (N = 48)	Girls (N = 29)
Weekly MVPA (min)	368.69 ± 116.58	273.76 ± 97.11	316.60 ± 114.87	277.70 ± 98.00	−52.09 ± 110.46	+ 3.94 ± 85.89	0.02*
Daily MVPA (min)	61.38 ± 19.58	45.63 ± 16.18	41.83 ± 14.70	37.30 ± 13.01	−19.54 ± 16.55	−8.32 ± 13.13	0.003*
Not meeting the recommended levels (<60minper day MVPA)	21 (43.75%)	23 (79.31%)	41 (85.42%)	27 (93.10%)	N = + 20	N = + 4	0.02* (girls) ns (boys)
Weekly sedentary activities (min)	6532,40 ± 392.26	6727.52 ± 435.67	7794.82 ± 359.03	7813.60 ± 489.38	+ 1262.42 ± 386.60	+ 1086.08 ± 350.39	0.05*
PAQ-c total score	3.34 ± 0.72	2.69 ± 0.78	2.25 ± 0.60	2.08 ± 0.64	−1.10 ± 0.80	−0.60 ± 0.52	0.01*

MVPA moderate to vigorous physical activity, PAQ-c physical activity questionnaire for children
^*Changes between before and during pandemic were compared using OneWay-Anova stratifying results by gender for continuous measures and Chi-square test for dichotomous variables

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