Text box 1. Contributions to the literature
• The EPaS-ISS study offers the first national-level data from Italy examining how children’s physical activity and screen time habits changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a snapshot of the pandemic impact on children’s daily routines.
• The study enabled to compare the Italian results with those from other 16 countries of the WHO European region.
•Low levels of active play and sport activities along with high levels of screen use among children was observed by the Italian COSI “OKkio alla SALUTE” surveillance system also before the pandemic. The EPaS-ISS study highlighted a worsening in these behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The produced knowledge supports the importance to develop focused strategies to improve health-related behaviours among children both in everyday life and during health emergencies.