The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health behaviours of primary school children in Ireland

Abstract Introduction In Ireland, despite the challenges of COVID-19, a stabilisation of overweight and obesity prevalence appears to continue in childhood. This study aimed to understand the pandemic's impact on these health behaviours among primary school children in Ireland. Methods The parents of primary school children (n = 2,784) who consented to participate in COSI-Ireland R6 were invited to complete the family survey electronically or on hard copy. The survey included a COVID study questionnaire which assessed children's lifestyles and health behaviours before and during the pandemic. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's Chi-square tests were conducted using SPSS Statistics 27. Results A sample of n = 1060 parents completed the COVID survey (38%). During the pandemic, an increase rather than a decrease in the time spent playing actively outside school hours was observed among almost twice as many children across Ireland on both weekdays (47.3% and 24.2% respectively) and weekends (40.10% and 21.80% respectively). Over half (55%) of children spent more rather than less time watching TV, playing video/computer games, or using social media for recreational purposes on weekends and even more on weekdays (62.40%) during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. An increase in both physical activity and screen time use was observed regardless of weight status. An increase in sweet (31.1%) and savoury (26.1%) snack consumption was also reported during the pandemic, while soft drink intake increased by only 7.4%. Children living with underweight and overweight/obesity reported significant changes in their consumption of sweet snacks and soft drinks during the pandemic but not savoury snacks. Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic parents observed several changes in their children's health behaviours. A positive shift in physical activity among children was also observed, regardless of weight status but less favourable changes were observed relating to diet. Key messages • Positive health related behaviour changes observed during the pandemic may offset more challenging behaviours. • Further analysis is required to examine the impact of the pandemic on these behaviours.