1. Introduction
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on everyday life worldwide. Since the declaration of the global pandemic and the first national cases, Chile has had a total of 462,991 infected and suffered 12,741 deaths (from March through September 2020) [1]. During the pandemic, Chile has been in the top 10 countries with the highest ratio of deaths per 100 k population (67.9 deaths/100 k inhabitants by 30 September 2020) [2].
In response to this pandemic, the Chilean government implemented several approaches to reduce the health and economic impact of COVID-19. On 16 March 2020, all schools were closed, and, in the same week, workplaces implemented work-from-home strategies. On 17 March, all national parks were closed, and on 26 March some districts enforced lockdowns and curfews [3]. These restrictions likely had a negative impact on young children’s movement behaviors, (physical activity, sedentary behavior—including screen time, and sleep) [4,5]. Global guidelines recommend that children aged 1 to 5 should accumulate at least 180 min of physical activity, engage in no more than 1 h sedentary screen time (none for 1-year-olds), and have between 11–14 h (1- to 2-year-olds) and 10 to 13 h (3- to 5-year-olds) good-quality sleep per night [6,7]. Complying with these movement behavior guidelines, in one or more of several possible combinations of these recommendations (e.g., physical activity and sleeping) has been favorably associated with motor development, cognition, fitness, emotional regulation, adiposity, among others [6]. Limiting young children’s ability to meet these recommendations may have long-term health consequences [4,8]. Studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown that children and adolescents have decreased physical activity, increased screen time, and slightly increased sleep duration [5]. However, there is a lack of data regarding the impact of COVID-19 on movement behaviors in children under 5 years of age and from Latin-American countries.
Understanding the association between COVID-19 factors and young children’s movement behaviors is important in guiding decision-making among policymakers, and in educating parents and health professionals. This information would be relevant not only during the pandemic but also when returning to a “new normal”. The purpose of this study was to examine the early impact of COVID-19 restrictions implemented in Chile on levels of physical activity, screen time, and sleep among toddlers and preschoolers. In particular, we aimed to explore the sociodemographic factors associated with changes in these movement behaviors in this population group.