Abstract
BACKGROUND: The decreasing prevalence of physical activity (PA) among urban children in Sub-Saharan Africa is a growing public health concern. More emphasis should focus on examining the influence of parental PA behaviour on the children's PA patterns. We explored associations of 24 hour (h) accelerometer-measured movement behaviours of guardian-child pairs in Nairobi City County, Kenya. METHODS: This cross-sectional study assessed 80 pairs consisting of children aged 9-14 years and their guardians in one area of low and one area of middle socioeconomic status (SES) (Embakasi Sub-County and Lang'ata Sub-County), in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study used waist worn Tri-axial Actigraph (GT3X+ and ActiSleep+) accelerometers to quantify PA and sedentary time (SED). Association between guardians' and children's PA was examined using linear regression, adjusting for guardians' educational attainment and household wealth. RESULTS: Of the children, 42 (52.5%) and 76 (96.2%) of the guardians were women. Children in low SES areas spent more time (p < 0.001) in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity compared to children from middle SES area. The guardians in low SES area were younger and spent more time in light PA (p = 0.036) while their counterparts had higher daily SED (p = 0.049). Guardian's SED associated with higher children's SED (p = 0.033) even after adjusting for guardians' educational attainment (p = 0.032) and wealth (p = 0.05). There was no association between guardians' and children's MVPA. CONCLUSION: Considered alongside the extant literature, these results suggest that health promotion strategies should aim to reduce parental SED time while also planning to increase children's PA.