Gender and education differences in sedentary behaviour in Canada: An analysis of national cross-sectional surveys

Abstract

Background: Canadians spend the majority of their days sedentary. Gender and education are important social determinants of health that impact health behaviours. There is evidence that gender and educational differences in sedentary behaviour exist. In Canada, while general trends suggest that leisure sedentary activities have changed; there has been no comprehensive assessment examining whether historical changes in sedentary behaviour differ by gender and education level. Our objective was to examine whether gender and educational differences in accelerometer-measured sedentary time and self-reported sedentary behaviours exist among Canadians and if differences are consistent across age groups, over time and across multiple survey sources. Methods: We summarize amounts of total accelerometer-measured sedentary time and self-reported sedentary activities (e.g., passive travel, television, computer, video games, screen, reading) by age (i.e. children: 6-11 years, youth: 12-17 years, adults: 18-34 years, 45-49 years, 50-64 years, and older adults: ≥ 65 years), gender (girls/women, boys/men) and household education level (