physical activity of iranian children during the pandemic of covid-19

Background: during the two years of covid-19 lockdown and its related restrictions, the level ofphysical activity has decreased among children. considering the adverse effects of insufficientphysical activity (pa) on the health of children and adolescents, this study was conducted with theaim of investigating the level of physical activity during the covid-19 pandemic among children andadolescents aged 8-19 years, in iran.methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted among 16,500 urban and rural students 8-19 yearoldfrom 31 provinces across the country, during the covid-19 pandemic in iran. multistagesampling was used to select the participants. data was gathered in january 2022 using the persianversion of the pa questionnaire (paq) for older children and adolescents, based on the whoglobalschool-based student health survey (gshs) questionnaire.results: 14893 cases were included in the study. the result of this study showed that more than halfof the participants had a medium level of pa, and 32.5 had a low level of pa and only 12.6% of theparticipants had a high level of pa. males and those in the age group of 14 to 19 years hadsignificantly higher levels of pa (p<0.05). the regression analysis showed that for a one -yearincrease in age, the pa score would decrease by 0.256 times (p=0.000). the mean paq score wassignificantly higher among children whose parents did not have a health-related occupation or wereunemployed.conclusion: although the finding of this study showed controversial results considering the decreasein children’s pa scores during the covid-19 pandemic, it demonstrated a low pa level amongiranian children in general.