A bibliometric analysis of three decades of research on the correlates and determinants of physical activity in China
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12820/rbafs.30e0395Keywords:
Physical activity, Physical activity research, China, Correlates, DeterminantsAbstract
Objective: This study examines three decades of research progress on the correlates and determinants of physical activity in China, by analyzing the trends and characteristics of publications from 1990 to 2019. Methods: A systematic review was conducted by the Global Observatory of Physical Activity on physical activity publications globally between 1950 and 2019, of which 162 publications on correlates and determinants of physical activity in China were included in this study. Key variables analyzed were: types of correlates and determinants, study design, age group, instruments measuring physical activity, first author’s affiliation, geographical characteristics of the study population’s distribution, and publication decade. Results: The number of publications on the correlates and determinants of physical activity in China has shown an increasing trend since the first one was identified in 1998. Most publications were cross-sectional studies (79.6%), about eight times more than cohort studies. Most publications focused on individual-level correlates and determinants (72.8%) of physical activity. Regarding study population, most studies selected participants from economically developed cities and few took place in smaller cities. Children 0-9 years were the age group with the least number of studies identified. Questionnaires were the most common measurement tool (72.2%). Conclusions: Despite a marked increase in the number of publications over three decades, research efforts remain characterized by persistent homogeneity, underscoring the need for more cohort studies, broader geographical representation, balanced attention across age groups and different layers of correlates and determinants.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Zijian Lu, Kaiyue Zhang, Diana Morales, Ding Ding, Andrea Ramirez Varela, Michael Pratt, Pedro Curi Hallal
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